Cortec® Corporation’s “Corrosion Inhibiting Vapor For Use
In Connection With Encased Articles” US Patent Number
8,800,224 Was Published August 12th, 2014!
Cortec® has long been a leader in the application of
volatile corrosion inhibitors (sold primarily under
the VpCI® brand) to solve a wide range of
important corrosion problems. That leadership and
innovation is again demonstrated with the
publication of its latest patent US 8,800,224. This
technology was developed to solve specific
problems with corrosion of cables on suspension
bridges. However, it was found to be broadly useful
for a range of applications in which structural
tension elements are at risk from corrosion. In this
approach, structural elements are directly treated
with a gas stream saturated with volatile corrosion
inhibitors. It provides a cost effective, safe, easy to
use, and environmentally friendly alternative to
other available corrosion inhibitor treatments. The
technology can be used to extend the life of structures already experiencing corrosion problems,
or to prevent the problems from starting in the first place. With this new technology, Cortec® has
again “raised the bar” on our competitors.
The Severn Bridge, in Wales,
England, is a cable stay bridge
maintained by the UK Highways
Agency, and is an example of a
bridge using this technology. The
suspension cables on this bridge type
are known to corrode over a long
period of time. The first inspection of
the main cables found they were
corroded and had reduced structural
strength. An acoustic monitoring
system and dry air injection system were installed on both main suspension cables to control the
deterioration. To enhance the dry air injection system, a corrosion inhibitor was included. The
world-renowned bridge design-engineering firm, Mott MacDonald, specified this corrosion
inhibiting treatment for this project because of the effectiveness, ease of application, and low
overall cost.
