Category Archives: Corrosion studies

Corrosion and Failure Analysis

posted August 2018

The NACE International (National Association of Corrosion Engineers) Central Conference in Omaha is just wrapping up.  MEE staff engineers Ryan Haase and Neal Hanke have been taking turns attending technical presentations and talking to colleagues at the MEE booth in the exhibit hall.

This year’s conference location in Omaha, just a few hours drive from our Minneapolis location, was a good opportunity for us to discuss local corrosion issues and how MEE can assist in addressing these issues. One of the key benefits of partnering with MEE is our fundamental understanding of materials behavior, including mechanical and corrosion failure mechanisms.

Neal Hanke, P.E. , Materials Evaluation and Engineering

Filed under: Corrosion studies, Failure Analysis, Materials testing laboratory,

Corrosion Conference

posted July 2018

MEE engineers, Ryan Haase and Neal Hanke, will be attending the NACE International (National Association of Corrosion Engineers) Central Conference in Omaha on August 6-8. The technical program will include presentations on failure analysis and MIC, Microbiological Influenced Corrosion.  The MEE staff specializes in root-cause failure analysis. Our experience encompasses many types of material behavior and modes of failure including mechanical and corrosion mechanisms.

MEE will have a booth in the exhibit hall. Look for the booth with the cool microscope images of corrosion and MIC.

Profile of pitted area of a pipe wall.

MIC

 

Filed under: Corrosion studies, Failure Analysis,

Electrochemical Corrosion Testing

posted March 2018

MEE just added a new potentiostat/galvanostat instrument to our busy corrosion laboratory. The VersaSTAT 4 is an advanced and versatile instrument expanding on our electrochemical corrosion testing capabilities.

Electrochemical corrosion experiments can provide a variety of data related to the pitting, crevice corrosion, and passivation behavior for specific sample/solution combinations. These data are useful in selecting materials and/or determining how manufacturing processes affect corrosion properties.

Corrosion Testing

Corrosion Testing Lab Set-up

Read more about corrosion testing on our website and in our online Handbook of Analytical Methods for Materials.  Or you may call and talk to one of our technical staff for typical applications and sample requirements.

Filed under: About MEE, Corrosion studies, HAMM, Materials testing laboratory,

Graphitic Corrosion Case Study

posted January 2017

We were asked to determine the mechanism and possible causes of corrosion of a cast iron sanitary sewer pipe. Metallurgical testing and EDS analysis pointed to graphitic corrosion. With graphitic corrosion there is no reduction in the size or shape of the pipe but the strength of the material is severely reduced.

Cross section of vent pipe.

Cross section of vent pipe.

The Vent Pipe case study explains in more detail how this type of corrosion mechanism is identified, causes and our recommendations to the client.

All of the case studies on our website come from our files. They have been edited to present a more casual writing style than our formal reports, but generally they follow the structure of our reports and give an overview of the findings and conclusions from an investigation.

Filed under: About MEE, Case Studies, Corrosion studies, Materials Characterization, metallography,

Pipeline Corrosion Control Seminar

posted February 2016

Two of our engineers, Dick Kielty and Dan Grice, attended the 2016 NACE International 10,000 Lakes Pipeline Corrosion Control Seminar  held in Prior Lake MN.  The MEE trade show booth was set up, too, so when Dick and/or Dan were not in one of the sessions, they were at the booth answering questions about the services MEE provides to the pipeline industry.

Some of our past projects have included corrosion evaluation of oil pipeline sections, determination of the failure mechanism in natural gas pipelines, and investigation of leaks in fuel oil pipelines and polyethylene natural gas lines.

DSC_8390

MEE Booth at NACE event

MEE Booth at NACE 2016 Corrosion Control Seminar

Filed under: About MEE, Corrosion studies, Failure Analysis,

Another Way to Look at Things…

posted December 2015

We just purchased a research grade Olympus SZX16 stereo microscope equipped with a super high resolution, digital, micro-imaging camera.  This is an excellent addition to our light microscopy laboratory. With easy shifting from macro-view to micro-view,  it is a specialized and powerful tool for fracture examination, corrosion studies and general failure analysis.

We’re looking forward to putting our newest microscope to work.

Olympus SZX16 stereo microscope with digital camera.

Olympus SZX16 Stereo Microscope with digital camera.

Filed under: About MEE, Corrosion studies, Failure Analysis, Fracture Analysis, Light Microscope,