Use of electrochemical current noise method to monitor carbon steel corrosion under mineral wool insulation

Abstract

Corrosion of carbon steel under mineral wool insulation was studied using the electrochemical current noise (ECN) method. Intensities of corrosion were validated using gravimetry, and the form of corrosion confirmed using optical microscopy. The standard deviation of the current noise signal agreed with weight loss results and was demonstrated as a reliable indicator of the degree of corrosion under mineral wool insulation. Recurrence quantification analysis was used to extract feature variables from ECN signals, which were later used to develop a random forest model to identify the type of corrosion, i.e., uniform or localised corrosion. The trained model was successfully applied to predict the extent of localised corrosion associated with mineral wool insulation.