Influence of Coastal Atmosphere in the Corrosion of Components in Metallic Structures of Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA) in Ciego de Avila, Cuba

Abstract

Atmospheric corrosion of metals is an electrochemistry discontinuous process, which occurs only when the metal surface is wet or damp with various weather phenomena as rain, condensation, fog and other. NaCl is identified as one of the most aggressive pollutants for atmospheric corrosion to occur in coastal environments. Weather conditions in Cuba, together with its configuration and geographic location allow that the influence of the marine aerosol arrived to almost all the national territory favoring notably the deterioration of materials, especially the metallic ones. For this reason, it was decided to carry out a preliminary study of the effect of the coastal atmosphere on the corrosion of the components in metallic structures AT-60 and Najasa models of the Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA) in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba. The selected components were subjected to micro and macro analysis. The coexistence of the loss of the paint layer with the onset of pitting corrosion was evidenced in the images observed by microscopy, while the results of the macro analyzes, only for components of the AT-60 model showed affectations, after one year of exposure, with decreases in the thickness of the metal between 50 and 100%, a loss of mass of 18.3% and perforations due to pitting corrosion that reached a diameter of up to 17 mm These reasons justified the need of a particular maintenance management in these zones.