Corrosion in the Petrochemical Industry collects together authoritative, peer-reviewed data and information on corrosion in the petroleum, petrochemical, and chemical processing industries from a number of ASM International publications. The principal sources are Corrosion, Volume 13, and Failure Analysis and Prevention, Volume 11, of the ASM Handbook. Other sources include the Handbook of Corrosion Data; Handbook of Case Histories in Failure Analysis, Volumes l and 2; and Metadex, the Materials Information database of materials abstracts. This information has been carefully selected and edited into one cohesive, comprehensive volume on corrosion phenomena in these industries.

This project was initiated because survey results and other input from ASM members and book buyers indicated a strong interest in collections of ASM data and information repackaged into logical, convenient new configurations. Based on this interest, a team of ASM staff members was assembled to gather additional input and then use it to craft a publication that is highly responsive to the demands of its intended audience. This team effort was led by Grace Davidson, with team members Steve Chang, Karen Germany, Scott Henry, Rich Majoros, Robert Pavlik, Dawn Summerlin, and Reva Zaretsky; Robert Uhl, Director of ASM’s Education Department, sponsored the project.

The team chose the subject of corrosion because of the great amount of high-quality ASM published information available on this subject. The team conducted over 100 in-depth phone interviews with ASM book buyers who work or have an interest in the area of corrosion. The results of these phone interviews were then used as input for detailed quality function deployment matrices. (Quality function deployment is a systematic method for organizing and analyzing customer demands in order to develop products that are responsive to those demands.) Out of the quality function deployment process, the team developed three potential outlines, each with a separate area of focus in the field of corrosion. The team then went back to a small group of respondents to the original survey and asked them to review and comment on the outlines, and to rate them according to their apparent usefulness to a clearly defined audience.

The outline selected by this group was the one used to develop this volume. The outline and survey data were turned over to Linda Garverick, who has done a masterful job of compiling and editing the information to turn it into a cohesive, well-rounded publication. ASM International owes a debt of gratitude to the survey respondents who gave so generously of their time, opinions, and expertise to help develop this handbook. Of course, this book would not have been possible without the efforts of the dozens of experts who wrote and reviewed the information it contains.