Effect of pulse cathodic protection on corrosion mitigation and electrochemical conditions under a simulated coating disbondment on pipeline steel

Abstract Coating disbondments on pipeline steels are regions with high resistivity where conventional cathodic protection (CP) could not fully protect. Therefore, in an attempt to mitigate this challenge, this study investigates the effect of pulse CP on corrosion mitigation and electrochemical conditions under a simulated coating disbondment on X‐52 pipeline steel. In this regard, conventional and pulse CP of −870 mV SCE were applied to the open mouth of a simulated coating disbondment. For pulse CP, frequencies of 1, 5, and 10 kHz were used. Results showed while the conventional CP was not able to fully protect the 20 cm simulated coating disbondment, for the pulse CP with increase in frequency from 1 to 5 kHz, and from 5 to 10 kHz, improve in CP potential protection under the simulated coating disbondment was achieved. This was accompanied by considerably lower corrosion and a more uniform pH distribution under the simulated coating disbondment.