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Inside DoD

New Materials Selection Handbook Highlights DoD Corrosion Issues

By Gretchen Jacobson

The Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, and Testing Information Analysis Center (AMMTIAC), a U.S. DoD Information Analysis Center, has released Spiral 2 of its handbook, Corrosion Prevention and Control: A Program Management Guide for Selecting Materials. This edition succeeds a corrosion handbook originally published in July 2005 by AMMTIAC’s predecessor, the Advanced Materials and Processes Technology Information Analysis Center (AMMTIAC).

Written by Benjamin D. Craig, Richard A. Lane, and David H. Rose of AMMTIAC, the book is intended as a guide to provide acquisition personnel with the fundamental background they need to understand the cause, effect, and ramifications of corrosion. Its intent is not to train engineers in corrosion but to provide enough technical background so that those in a program management role will have enough knowledge to oversee the materials selection process and ensure that corrosion-tolerant structures, systems, and equipment are delivered to the end user.

Nine detailed chapters discuss such topics as reducing acquisition risk by designing in corrosion resistance, selecting materials for improved corrosion resistance, and how environments affect corrosion processes. There are extensive sections on the various forms of corrosion, properties of metals, and corrosion control methods, monitoring, and inspection technologies.

A chapter specific to the DoD provides numerous examples of field experience with the corrosion of military assets, including aircraft, ships and submarines, ground vehicles, and structures. For each type of asset, the chapter describes typical corrosion environments, major components susceptible to corrosion, forms of corrosion observed, types of metals used, corrosion prevention and control methods and maintenance, and corrosion monitoring.

The handbook features numerous photographs, figures, and tables to illustrate corrosion concepts and control methods. A comprehensive glossary lists definitions of many technical terms used in the industry.

Corrosion Prevention and Control: A Program Management Guide for Selecting Materials is available to the public and may be accessed here. The handbook is continually evolving; AMMTIAC is now in the process of producing Spiral 3.