Atmospheric Corrosion of Weathering Steels

A general research program to study the corrosion behavior of weathering steels is being completed by the State Research Institute for Materials Protection. Three stages of research are discussed: 1. a description of the corrosion characteristics of these materials. 2. the corrosion behavior of weathering steels in structural service, and 3. the evaluation of the applicability of weathering steels for typical real structures. The results of this program were used to formulate the corrosion section of the specification: Technical Direction for Application of Weathering Steels. A comparison of the cost of construction using conventional paint coatings on steel versus the use of weathering steel is provided, including the protection and operation of construction.