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RustStop® RS-5 electronic cathodic protection and other vehicle rust control products - Serving the Americas, Europe and Russia |
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Rust is more of a threat than you may think! What is electronic rust proofing (rustproofing)? Undercoating and Rust Proofing (rustproofing)? What is RustStop® electronic rust protection? How does RustStop® electronic rust prevention work? Are you serious about car care?
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Even Cathodic Protection has limitations.
According to the U.S. Navy, Cathodic Protection is the best form of electronic corrosion control. It is widely used at Naval Shore Activities for protecting buried and waterfront structures and for protecting the interiors of water storage tanks. In some cases, such as underground pipelines, their field experience has shown that cathodic protection is such an effective means of providing the required levels of safety in the operation of the systems that they require Cathodic Protection by regulation.
Cathodic protection is one of the few methods of corrosion control that can effectively be used to control corrosion on existing metal surfaces. Thus, if corrosion is occurring, cathodic protection can be applied to stop the corrosion damage from increasing. Cathodic protection can, however, only stop further corrosion from occurring and cannot restore the material already lost due to corrosion.
Corrosion (rust) is an electrochemical process where chemical reactions take place through the exchange of electrons. Cathodic Protection systems prevent the corrosion reactions that would otherwise naturally occur by preventing the exchange of electrons.
As in any electronic process, the positive side, the anode (we'll call it "natural anode"), gets eaten away while the negative side, the cathode, is protected. Steel ordinarily behaves like a natural anode and corrodes. Cathodic protection prevents corrosion by making steel behave like a cathode and be free from corrosive attack. This is achieved by providing electrons of a higher energy level (electric potential) than those which would be produced in the corrosion reaction at the natural anode.
Cathodic protection requires a source of electrical current (high energy electrons) to prevent the corrosive attack on metal. These sources of current are also called “anodes” (we'll call them "protective anodes").
The method that is used to supply the required current to the metal being protected depends on the type of cathodic protection system being used, either Sacrificial Anode or Impressed Current.
In Sacrificial Anode systems, the current required for cathodic protection is supplied by the corrosion of a protective anode made of an active metal such as zinc or specifically developed aluminum, which has a natural higher positive charge than the metal being protected (steel). This electric potential (Voltage) difference causes a greater attraction of free electrons than the atoms in the metal. The result is that the protective anode now gets sacrificed (corroded) and the corrosion process in the metal is interrupted. Hence the metal is protected.
In an Impressed Current system, the current required is supplied by an external power source. The effect of these electrons at the structure being protected is the same as that derived from the sacrificial anode type of cathodic protection system. However, the protective anode material, made from an inert material such as high silicon cast iron, serves only as a source of electrons and need not be consumed in providing protective current.
These two methods in their classical form are used on metal that is completely surrounded by water or moist earth which becomes the electrolyte (current path) to complete the electrical process.
Obviously, vehicles are not covered with water 100% of the time, so the use of these technologies in their classical form is not suited for vehicle rust protection.
RustStop® RS-5 uses both Sacrificial Anode and Impressed Current Cathodic Protection. RustStop® RS-5 is our New and Improved electronic rust protection system. It replaces the RustStop® RS-4 and RS2000 System.
To find out how we overcame the limitations of using cathodic protection on vehicles, click on: What is RustStop® RS-5 electronic rust protection?
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