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Tier 5 · Architectural Design and Building Science

Corrosion, galvanic action and service life

How a corrosion cell works, why a galvanic series is not a verdict, and why area ratio and copper runoff matter; atmospheric categories, coating thickness and how makers define coastal; and a documented review that ends in questions, not a promise of years.

4 lessons · about 49 min · 14 diagrams · 1 video

Version 1.0.0

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Lessons

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  1. Lesson 1 · 13 min · 12 slides · 9 questions

    Corrosion, galvanic action and service life: principles and terminology

    The four parts of a corrosion cell and the three prerequisites of galvanic attack; what counts as an electrolyte; why a galvanic series is not a verdict; area ratio; deposition corrosion; and how zinc protects steel.

    You will be able to: Name the parts of a corrosion cell, state the conditions galvanic corrosion needs, read a galvanic series with its limits, explain area ratio and deposition corrosion, and keep the safety boundary of inspecting at height.

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  2. Lesson 2 · 14 min · 12 slides · 10 questions

    Corrosion, galvanic action and service life: materials, standards and design constraints

    Atmospheric corrosivity categories and their zinc rates; coating thickness and linear zinc loss; why batch-galvanizing charts do not transfer to sheet; aluminum-zinc coatings; warranty distances and exclusions; and UFGS 07 60 00 as a specification model.

    You will be able to: Use the ISO 9223 categories and zinc rates, relate coating thickness to life without misusing batch-galvanizing charts, compare how makers define coastal, and read warranties and a guide specification as design checklists.

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  3. Lesson 3 · 12 min · 11 slides · 8 questions

    Corrosion, galvanic action and service life: methods and worked application

    An eight-step review method; screening pairs with the Design Center and reading it against the sources; choosing separation; zinc-loss arithmetic, an area-ratio example and a site checked against four warranty and category documents.

    You will be able to: Run a documented corrosion and service-life review on a flashing detail: define the site, map contact and drainage paths, screen pairs, choose separation, check warranties and record assumptions, with three worked examples.

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  4. Lesson 4 · 10 min · 12 slides · 6 questions

    Corrosion, galvanic action and service life: defects, verification and case study

    Defects read as symptom, mechanism and evidence: fastener and crevice corrosion, copper-aluminum damage, rooftop-unit runoff, cut edges, treated wood and concrete; the evidence to capture; and an illustrative school re-roof case.

    You will be able to: Diagnose a plausible corrosion defect from its symptom, name the likely mechanism and the evidence to capture, and work an illustrative school re-roof through the review to a list of requests for information.

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Practical task

Produce a corrosion and service-life review packet for one flashing detail of your own design (or a job you have worked on): the site, every metal and fastener, the contact and drainage paths, the separation you chose, the warranty checks, and the requests for information that remain.

Hand in

  • A decision rationale that names each metal pair, which part is the small one, the separation chosen and the source for it
  • A marked-up sketch of the detail showing every metal, every fastener, the contact paths and the drainage paths, with the moisture sources marked
  • An assumptions sheet with units: site exposure evidence, the distance to salt water measured on the plan, and each coating thickness, each labelled as sourced, from a product document, or assumed
  • A warranty check for each product: the document, its date, its distance condition and each exclusion read against the detail
  • A defect analysis for one plausible failure: symptom, likely mechanism, the evidence you would capture, and who decides the fix

Rubric

CriterionMeets the standard when
Contact and drainage pathsBoth kinds of path are drawn, including any place where water from one metal runs onto another, and each is checked against a source.
Area ratioEvery pair names which part is small, and no rate or years are invented from the ratio.
SeparationThe separation breaks the metal path or the moisture path, does not rely on coating only the anode, and names the maker or specification that governs it.
Warranty and coastal checksEach product document is read on its own terms, with its date, rather than by a general coastal rule.
Service-life statementAny years are written as the designer's assumptions with sources, never as an AFS prediction or warranty.
SafetyAny plan to inspect a roof edge names the fall-protection duty and the training that covers it.

Module quiz

10 questions drawn from a bank of 33; a new set each attempt. Pass mark 80%.

1. How does AGA's time-to-first-maintenance chart define that time?
2. What project warranty text does AFS's submittal package print?
3. What does AGA say must be done to sheet coating thicknesses before an approximate comparison with batch (A123) coatings?
4. About how far does GalvInfo say zinc nominally protects bare steel in air?
5. In a galvanic couple of two dissimilar metals, which metal becomes the corrosion site?
6. What does the MCA position paper in Interface (2009) suggest between copper-containing treated lumber and most metal panels?
7. In AMPP's description of deposition corrosion, what deposits as metal on the aluminum?
8. Whose judgement is service life in this course's framing, supported by the maker's data and warranty?
9. By how much does GalvInfo say 55% aluminum-zinc coating has been proven to outlast galvanized steel, depending on the environment?
10. GalvInfo says a galvanized coating's corrosion rate is typically what in most environments, so that twice the thickness means twice the life?