Managing Pitting Corrosion

Proper material selection is very effective in preventing the occurrence of pitting corrosion. Field testing, though, is often necessary to determine whether the chosen material is suitable for the proposed environment. Another option for protecting against pitting is to mitigate aggressive environments and environmental components (e.g. chloride ions, low pH, etc.). Inhibitors may sometimes stop pitting corrosion completely. Further efforts during design of the system can aid in preventing pitting corrosion, for example, by eliminating stagnant solutions or by the inclusion of cathodic protection.