Abstract:
The field of Metallurgical Engineering includes a
vast range of applications from tiny mechanical components to
massive construction applications. Service life of metals is highly
concerned and studied extensively. Among all industrial metals,
plain carbon steel plays a considerable role. Detecting the actual
rate of corrosion has become very vital and critical since the
failures occurring due to corrosion is still a substantial problem.
Ultrasonic testing is one of the modern methods which can be
used to identify the rate of corrosion of a metallic component
accurately, without causing any destruction. This study sought to
contribute the field of metallurgical engineering by identifying
the effect of carbon content and ultrasonic attenuation towards
the rate of corrosion of plain carbon steels. Plain carbon steel
samples of different carbon contents were allowed to corrode
under accelerated environment and periodically tested for
ultrasonic attenuation and weight loss measurements. In
addition, corrosion penetration of the samples was examined
under optical and scanning electron microscopes. Observations
were taken for both destructive and non-destructive testing and
were correlated so that, using this correlation, rate of corrosion
can be determined in a non-destructive way without damaging
the components and hence the remaining life time could be
predicted.
