'Cherchez la Corrosion...' Big Effects of Little Corrosion

摘要

The engineered wood industry involves production processes which are essentially dry in nature. Although moisture and condensation are present in steps such as flaking, drying, blending, and pressing of the wood furnish, the effect of bulk corrosion is mostly trivial and/or non-critical to the equipment. Instead, the secondary effects of corrosion such as wear and cavitation enhancement, or the hydrogen embrittlement of the high strength fasteners may have expensive consequences in terms of reliability of the overall process. The article presents several examples of big impact caused by little, sometimes invisible, corrosion in the background.