Cathodic delamination of marine hardware: Causes and mitigation strategies
Tom Ramotowski, Ph.D.
NAVSEA Warfare Center Newport
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Pacific Forum – 3:00 p.m.
Anyone interested in designing or building hardware, devices, or vehicles for marine use needs to be concerned about "cathodic
delamination",
a phenomenon responsible for many of the bonding/adhesion failures observed
between metal and polymer substrates in the ocean. Cathodic potentials
applied to metal substrates to prevent seawater-induced corrosion initiate
the delamination. Understanding the mechanism of cathodic delamination is
important so that mitigation strategies can be developed and implemented.
"Accelerated life testing" (ALT)— a technique in which temperature
increases are used to accelerate the rate of a degradation process—has
proven useful in this regard. This presentation will introduce the concept
of cathodic delamination, and discuss technical issues related to cathodic
delamination ALT. The presentation concludes with a review of mitigation
strategies currently being employed or considered by the U.S. Navy to
reduce maintenance costs and increase the useful service life of hardware
in the marine environment subject to cathodic delamination.