CORROSION PROTECTION - ANSWERS TO A CHALL ENGE

Corrosion based effects can be disastrous for safety and economy; earl y national surveys have estimated corrosion related annual costs of ap proximately 4% of the GNP for industrial states, or 4% of the turnover for chemical companies. When breaking corrosion costs down into costs of protection and costs of damage? both parts - described as a functi on of the protective effort - add up to a curve displaying a minimum. This value represents unavoidable costs due to the thermodynamic insta bility of technically used materials. Caused by insufficient applicati on of available corrosion protection (CP) knowledge, in practice state s as well as industry have to deal with approx. 25% additional (and av oidable) costs on top of the minimum. Industry therefore should strive for overall application of CP knowledge and parallel pursue technical R&D activities. States should promote research projects and initiate as well as maintain corrosion education on all technical levels. Respo nsibility for other important activities such as exchange of experienc e, initiation of projects, standardization, and certified education, h owever, can be tied neither to the state nor to industry. This area of activities now will be taken over by the newly founded Association fo r Corrosion and Corrosion Protection GfKORR, thus filling an existing gap in Germany.