Fighting the US Military’s Slow Creeping Enemy: Corrosion

When left unchecked, the corrosion of metals and alloys is inevitable and extraordinarily costly. U.S. companies spend an estimated $276 billion annually on corrosion prevention, mitigation and repair – more than 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).[1] And for the U.S. government, unmanaged corrosion can pose serious problems across its assets and infrastructure, impacting mission readiness, crew safety and systems reliability. That’s why the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) spends around $20 billion annually on corrosion maintenance – almost 20% of every dollar budgeted for maintenance purposes.[2]

Battelle has helped the DoD with many of its corrosion challenges. The independent nonprofit science and technology research organization has multidisciplinary and comprehensive materials science and engineering expertise that uniquely position it to solve the most challenging material problems. And with its well-equipped facilities and multidisciplinary resources, Battelle can perform systematic material characterization assessments like material development, performance, qualification and specific failure analysis. When Battelle’s full material capabilities are brought to the table, myriad challenges – from unique materials selection to specific corrosion issues – can be solved to minimize maintenance costs and ensure critical systems are always mission ready in support of the warfighter. 

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