Using three-dimensional surface roughness parameters in analysis of atmospheric corrosion degradation of carbon steel

When carbon steel is subjected to atmospheric corrosion, the surface texture of the base metal becomes rougher due to corrosion attack. In this study, three-dimensional surface roughness analysis of the base metal of carbon steel samples exposed outdoors was performed to investigate this aspect of atmospheric corrosion. Corrosion loss was found to depend mainly on the number of days of exposure, the carbon content of the base metal and the core void volume. A high correlation coefficient was obtained, which suggests that analysis of surface texture can also be used as a means for determining atmospheric corrosion degradation.