Page 117 - Challenges in Corrosion Costs Causes Consequences and Control(2015)

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CORROSION COSTS

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Studies on the cost of corrosion have drawn the attention of several countries,
namely, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia,
Kuwait, Germany, Finland, Sweden, India, and China. The studies have ranged
from formal and extensive efforts to informal and modest efforts. The common
denominator of all these studies was that the annual corrosion costs ranged from 1%
to 5% of the gross national product (GNP) of each country. Corrosion costs may
be further divided into avoidable costs by using better corrosion control practices
and the unavoidable costs that require new and advanced technology. The estimates
of avoidable costs varied widely with a range of 10–40% of the total cost. Most of
the studies allocated the corrosion costs to industrial sectors or to corrosion control
categories such as products and services. All the studies addressed direct corrosion
costs. A common conclusive feature was that the indirect costs because of corrosion
damage are often significantly greater than the direct costs. It was also noted that the
indirect costs were more difficult to estimate.
Potential savings and steps to achieve the savings have been discussed in most of
the reports as formal results or as informal directions and discussion. The two most
important and common findings are:

1. Better dissemination of the available existing knowledge and information
through education and training, technical advisory and consulting services, and
research and development activities.
2. The opportunity for significant savings through more cost-effective use of cur-
rently available means to reduce corrosion.

Challenges in Corrosion: Costs, Causes, Consequences, and Control, First Edition. V. S. Sastri.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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