SEDL / STP / STP646-EB / STP27313S

Effects of Air Pollutants on Weathering Steel and Galvanized Steel: A Chamber Study

Haynie, FH
Environmental engineer, chemist, and environmental engineer, Environmental Research Center, Research Triangle Park, NC

Spence, JW
Environmental engineer, chemist, and environmental engineer, Environmental Research Center, Research Triangle Park, NC

Upham, JB
Environmental engineer, chemist, and environmental engineer, Environmental Research Center, Research Triangle Park, NC

Pages: 18    Published: Jan 1978

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Abstract

A statistically designed laboratory study of the effects of gaseous air pollutants on materials was completed. Weathering steel and galvanized steel were among materials exposed in controlled environment chambers. The direct and synergistic effects of relative humidity, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone in a programmed dew/light cycle were studied. For weathering steel, sulfur dioxide, relative humidity, and interaction between the two were the important corrosion rate factors. For galvanized steel, only the direct effects of sulfur dioxide and relative humidity were important. The remainder of the fifteen possible direct and synergistic effects were statistically insignificant.