Corrosion Cost and Corrosion Map of Korea - Based on the Data from 2005 to 2010

Corrosion of metallic materials occurs by the reaction with corrosive environment such as atmosphere, marine, soil, urban, high temperature etc. In general, reduction of thickness and cracking and degradation are resulted from corrosion. Corrosion in all industrial facilities and infrastructure causes large economic losses as well as a large number of accidents. Economic loss by corrosion has been reported to be nearly 1-6% of GNP or GDP. In order to reduce corrosion damage of industrial facilities, corrosion map as well as a systematic investigation of the loss of corrosion in each industrial sector is needed. The Corrosion Science Society of Korea in collaboration with 15 universities and institutes has started to survey on the cost of corrosion and corrosion map of Korea since 2005. This work presents the results of the survey on cost of corrosion by Uhlig, Hoar, and input-output methods, and the evaluation of atmospheric corrosion rate of carbon steel, weathering steel, galvanized steel, copper, and aluminum in Korea. The total corrosion cost was estimated in terms of the percentage of the GDP of industry sectors and the total GDP of Korea. According to the result of Input/output method, corrosion cost of Korea was calculated as 2.9% to GDP (2005). Time of wetness was shown to be categories 3 to 4 in all exposure areas. A definite seasonal difference was observed in Korea. In summer and fall, time of wetness was higher than in other seasons. Because of short exposure period (12 months), significant corrosion trends depending upon materials and exposure corrosion environments were not revealed even though increased mass loss and decreased corrosion rate by exposure time.