Focus on corrosion prevention to save cost and energy

 
Corrosion is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenge faced by the automotive industry, and is probably one of the single largest factor causing exterior degradation of automotive surfaces resulting in huge warranty claims that the automotive manufacturers have to face.
 
Estimated worldwide direct cost of corrosion exceeds $ 2.2 trillion which is about 3-4 percent of the GDP of industrialised countries. It is estimated that 25-40 percent of corrosion cost could be saved by implementing proper corrosion management practices.
 
One way of looking at it is the negative effect this has on the economy’s exchequer, affecting growth and sustainability. Another downside is that these figures reflect only the direct cost of corrosion, ie materials, equipment and activities of maintenance. What gets left out is the implication on environment, wastage of resources and lost production, injury of personnel resulting from corrosion.

 
About 90 percent of corrosion is associated with iron-based materials, thus manufacturing with the right mix of material is one way of dealing with corrosion. “Material selection is crucial in many ways - with every 10 percent of weight eliminated from a vehicle’s total weight, fuel economy improves by 7 percent. This is because it takes less energy to accelerate a lighter object than a heavier one, lightweight materials offer great potential for increasing vehicle efficiency. Corrosion in automotive leads to loss of material leading to failure and breakdowns, dimensional inaccuracy, degradation of aesthetics, deterioration of mechanical properties and increase in maintenance cost,” said Dr V R Krishnan, CII-Corrosion Management Committee and former chief consultant Engineers India.

 
Vivek P Kale of Gulf Oil commented, “Corrosion accounts to a loss of about Rs 80,000 crore per annum in India. Out of which automotive industry accounts for Rs 4,000 crore of loss due to corrosion each year.” It is a misnomer that the menace of corrosion is confined to coastal regions, however it occurs from severe to mild intensity in almost atmospheric condition and thus all industries must look at preventing corrosion in their plants as well as end products.
 
Confederation of Indian Industry-Corrosion Management Committee (CII-CMC) was constituted in 2006 under the chairmanship of Padma Shri awardee, Dr Baldev Raj, director, National Institute of Advance Studies, Bengaluru to address this crucial subject and educate the industry about solutions to tackle and control this menace. An annual action plan has been devised wherein a number of training initiatives have been planned across India.