Seals are mechanical components that prevent the leakage, diffusion, transfer, or mixing of different liquid, gas, solid, and multiphasic substances. This article begins by discussing the classifications of seals: static and dynamic. Static seals involve both self-energizing elastomeric materials such as O-rings, which merely react to a sealed fluid pressure, and passive materials that require clamping forces to achieve sealing, such as gaskets. The types of dynamic seals include rotary seals and reciprocating seals. The article describes the factors affecting seal wear and failure. It provides a list of some common seal wear modes and failures, namely abrasion, cavitation damage, chemical attack, compression set, corrosion, damage during abrupt decompression, dieseling damage, extrusion damage, installation damage, spiral or rolling damage, and vaporization damage. The article concludes with specific recommendations for reducting of seal friction and wear.

Cathodic protection (CP) is an electrochemical means of corrosion control widely used in the marine environment. This article discusses two types of CP systems: impressed current systems and sacrificial anode (passive) systems. It describes the anode materials used in these systems and the CP criteria. The article examines the design considerations and procedures involved in the CP of marine pipelines, offshore structures, and ship hulls. An illustration of sacrificial anode calculation is also provided.

This article discusses the effects of parameters on corrosivity and explains why it is critical to examine the parameter interactions prior to capturing the synergistic effects of the parameters on corrosion. It examines the methods of internal corrosion prediction for multiphase pipelines. The article reviews methodologies to perform internal corrosion direct assessment for pipelines. Real-time monitoring techniques for assessing actual corrosion at critical locations are discussed. The article also presents the case studies for multi-technique electrochemical corrosion monitoring.

Cathodic protection is an electrochemical means of corrosion control in which the oxidation reaction in a galvanic cell is concentrated at the anode, which suppresses corrosion of the cathode in the same cell. This article provides a detailed discussion on the fundamentals and types of cathodic protection as well as their power sources and design considerations. The criteria for the cathodic protection and types of materials used in sacrificial anodes and impressed-current anodes are also discussed. The article provides examples selected for familiarizing the design engineer with the steps for selecting a specific corrosion control method.

This article reviews the fundamentals of electrochemical corrosion test methods. The features and requirements of the instrumentation needed for an electrochemical test are briefly discussed. The article provides a discussion on the various electrochemical techniques and tests available for laboratory studies of corrosion phenomena. The techniques and tests include no-applied-signal tests, small-signal polarization tests, large-signal polarization tests, scanning electrode techniques, and miscellaneous techniques.

This article provides an overview of the electrochemical nature of corrosion and analyzes corrosion-related failures. It describes corrosion failure analysis and discusses corrective and preventive approaches to mitigate corrosion-related failures of metals. These include: change in the environment; change in the alloy or heat treatment; change in design; use of galvanic protection; use of inhibitors; use of nonmetallic coatings and liners; application of metallic coatings; use of surface treatments, thermal spray, or other surface modifications; corrosion monitoring; and preventive maintenance.

This article provides a discussion on the structural ceramics used in gas turbine components, the automotive and aerospace industries, or as heat exchangers in various segments of the chemical and power generation industries. It covers the fundamental aspects of chemical corrosion and describes the corrosion resistance characteristics of specific classes of refractories and structural ceramics. The article also examines the prevention strategies that minimize corrosion failures of both classes of materials.

This article describes weathering and environmental factors that contribute to degradation in plastics, including temperature variations, moisture, sunlight, oxidation, microbiologic attack, and other environmental elements. It presents a general overview of aging factors, their effects on plastic materials, and the accelerated test methods that can be used to estimate the reaction of a plastic component during actual use. The article focuses on the determination of service temperature as it indicates the ability of a material to retain a certain property, when exposed to elevated temperatures for an extended period of time. It concludes by describing various degradation processes, namely, thermal degradation, thermal oxidative degradation, photooxidative degradation, environmental corrosion, and chemical corrosion and discussing the ways of detecting these degradation processes.