Cost Savings Corrosion Protection for Deep Storage And Preservation of United States Air Force Vehicles and Equipment

摘要

The United States Air Force initiated an Air Staff Level Test Program for the protection of military vehicles and air ground support equipment. As a result of corrosion, millions of dollars of valuable assets are lost every year and the need for war readiness is jeopardized. Many different preservation products have been evaluated over the years and consequently utilized. This last initiative was for the evaluation of Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor (VCI) products and systems in deep storage and preservation for war readiness materials (WRM). VCIs are chemical compounds having significant vapor pressures that allow vaporization of the molecules and subsequent adsorption of these on metallic surfaces. The advantage of VCIs is that the vaporized molecules can reach inaccessible areas commonly found in electronic enclosures, between metal junctures and similar other systems including fluid reservoirs. VCIs have the ability to effectively prevent corrosion of dissimilar metals and provide a desirable effect in protecting metals from corrosive atmospheric elements. The USAF criteria and requirements, test details itself and the results obtained will be described in this paper. Parameters for the test were identified and established for specific results at the completion of the initiative. Ease of application, environment, worker safety, war readiness and enhanced war fighting capabilities would be positive factors if they could be given within the established guidelines.