To the best of my knowledge, artificial seawater is usually deployed inside a glass or plastic container such as aquarium. My inquiry is, has it ever been used in a metal based container?
The reason is because I see lots of corrosion study use it as a testing medium, but I never really know where such combination is needed. I mean, if all application of artificial seawater is inside plastic or glass, then why test it using metal for corrosion study.
Dear Dr. Wan Mohamad Ikhmal,
in general, artificial sea water is used in very specific sectors where the environment must be controlled and it is necessary to have a solution that does not contain or minimize the biological load. Very often, to simulate the corrosive attack of natural sea water (whose chemical composition and biological charge is variable depending on the place of sampling and seasonality) artificial sea water or NaCl water solutions are used in the laboratory (eg deionized water solution containing 3.5% wt NaCl, pH = 5.8 and Dissolved Oxygen = 6.5 ppm). In other cases, for example the study of microbiological corrosion or the evaluation of the anti-fouling power of an organic coating for naval use cannot absolutely ignore the biological aspect. In terms of storage containers, I believe that in normal conditions, plastic is the cheapest and most resistant material for artificial seawater. If we vary a lot the temperature or pressure we should start evaluating metals (probably with a suitable corrosion protection) ..... but this is another story.
Best regards, Pierluigi Traverso
Artificial seawater studies are often hydrostatic in nature as the seawater/saltwater is within an enclosed confinement. I think the reason why metal containers are not used is simply because of several factors like conduction/reaction, opaqueness/the inability to see the water colouration as it undergoes corrosion.In terms of metal to metal reaction of the coupon and the metal container, it could result in several reactions especially if the metal are dissimilar in nature. Also it is economically parameter, as plastic container or beaker do not corrode so as not to influence the process.
Hi
It is not recommended because the corrosion phenomenon might occur when an ionic solution like artificial seawater in direct contact with metallic alloys, even though not all metallic alloys are susceptible to corrosion in the artificial seawater.
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