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Study of microbially influenced corrosion of mild steel in different media
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Author :
S. Noyel Victoria* and Akansha Sharma
Mild steel is commonly used metal in many industries. The high concentration of iron in mild steel offers better strength making it preferred for many industrial applications. At the same time, mild steel is very susceptible to corrosion. Mild steel is the widely used material for ship ballast tank construction. Ship ballast tanks are helpful in maintaining the stability of the ships. The tank is usually filled with seawater. This causes corrosion of the ballast tank which could cause dangerous outcome. The corrosion of ship ballast tank by sulfate reducing bacteria is studied using weight loss studies. The medium used for the study is artificial seawater. The weight loss studies did not show a monotonic trend. The constantly varying weight loss values in both control and biotic media is due to the result of change in the thickness of corrosion products or biofilm layer. Maximum corrosion rate occurs in the first week of immersion which decreases in the second week and again increases little during the third week for all the media. The scanning electron microscopy images show significant growth of biofilms in the synthetic seawater medium with sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB).
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ABSTRACT
KEYWORD
Mild steel, corrosion, seawater, SRB, lactate