This is unfortunate, because corrosion is much more than unsightly—it is destructive of your equipment, shortening the life of that equipment and requiring costly repairs or even replacement. That is because corrosion—which is a chemical reaction of oxygen with the metal to form oxides that can dissolve, disintegrate, and drive further corrosion—weakens the metal, making it thinner, making it wear faster, and even resulting in holes and breaks.
While up-front costs exist associated with protecting steel products with metal coating solutions such as galvanizing, metalizing or powder coating, the long-term benefits from corrosion more than make up for the initial outlay. In addition to maintenance and monitoring costs, there are potential lost products, lost production time, property damage, injuries, environmental costs, and even damaged public relations. When these costs are considered, the price of long-term corrosion protection is even more compelling.
Corrosion’s economic impact is staggering: A study titled “Corrosion Costs and Preventive Strategies in the United States,” conducted from 1999 to 2001 by CC Technologies Laboratories, Inc., with support from the FHWA and NACE, shows that “the total annual estimated direct cost of corrosion in the U.S. is a staggering $276 billion—approximately 3.1% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).” NACE International did a further study showing the global impact of corrosion to be $2.5 trillion—approximately 3.4 percent of global GDP.
For highways and bridges alone, the cost of corrosion nationwide is $8.3 billion. Corrosion of transmission towers and poles for electric utilities costs the industry $6.9 billion, and in agriculture the corrosion of irrigation systems, livestock containment, and so on costs the industry over a $1 billion. Rather than replacing and repairing already-corroded equipment, we should take steps to proactively prevent corrosion.
AZZ offers a variety of metal-coating solutions, including galvanizing, powder coating, metalizing, and GalvaBar, a galvanized rebar that both provides the protection of zinc and exceptional formability. These solutions are leading the way in protecting our nation’s infrastructure, helping to save billions of dollars annually and making our world safer in the process.
Avoid the high costs of corrosion related maintenance and replacement. Keep your plants up and running, safe and secure from corrosion, with metal protection solutions from AZZ.
To learn more about what AZZ Inc. can do for your business, visit us online at http://www.AZZ.com today!
