Abstract
Taiwan has a typical marine climate featuring perennial high-temperature and dampness. This climate, together with the emission of various industrial corrosive waste gases in recent years, contributes a lot to the corrosion of metal materials. In this study, samples of carbon steel exposed to various atmospheres in Taiwan were analyzed to investigate the impacts of atmospheric factors on carbon steel corrosion. Carbon steel samples were collected from 87 experimental stations between 2009 and 2012. Statistical analysis was employed to investigate the correlations between the carbon steel corrosion situations and the atmospheric factors such as concentrations of sulfur dioxide or chloride, exposure time, rainfall, etc. The results indicate that for samples from industrial areas, the sulfur dioxide concentration and exposure time during fall and winter are significantly correlated to the condition of the carbon steel corrosion. However, for samples from coastal zones, the significant correlated factors are chloride concentration and wetting time during winter. The results of this study are useful for the development of carbon steel corrosion prediction models.