Abstract
Metal corrosion is a complex physico-chemical process that causes significant economic losses across various industrial sectors. Ensuring environmental safety of industrial facilities by monitoring corrosion parameters is an important task. Analyses of the processes involved in corrosion are covered by materials science, chemistry, physics, engineering, and several other disciplines. It becomes very important to accurately measure rates of corrosion for service life prediction of materials as well as for the application of appropriate protection methods. This paper exposes the principal techniques for measuring corrosion rates, namely the gravimetric or weight-loss technique and the polarization resistance technique. The gravimetric technique is easy to apply but comes about with many limitations: Localized processes cannot be taken into account; accuracy is not possible; and what duration has to be applied depends is made known. The polarization resistance technique permits continuous real-time monitoring of instantaneous corrosion rate value electrochemical reactions at a metal-electrolyte interface. Among its advantages are highly sensitivity, possibility of automation, and early problem detection.
This study presents a comparative analysis of these methods, justifying the feasibility of applying the polarization approach in conditions where accuracy, speed, and data reliability are critical and highlights the importance of selecting the optimal method, considering the specifics of the environment and the accuracy requirements of corrosion measurements.