PCA New England is primarily a corrosion prevention firm with 45 years of experience. Our trained and certified staff implement the most current testing, inspection and corrosion control methodologies based on ever changing requirements of industrial, governmental and technical organizations. Our passion for client service has aided our growth into related fields, primarily in petroleum tank compliance, protective coatings, bulk terminal maintenance, and marine corrosion services. But to understand PCA New England, one needs first to understand
What Is Corrosion?
because it’s our mission to help you, our client, to show you
How To Stop It!

We all take “rusting” as a necessary evil and consider replacement of steel structures as a normal procedures. However this is not the case at all, for there are many ways to prolong the life of such structures as tanks, dock structures, sewage handling equipment, piping and heat exchangers just to mention a few components of the average plant facility.

Corrosion is an electrochemical phenomena wherein a metal in the presence of an electrolyte (water or damp soil) goes from a solid (steel) to a solute (iron ions). These ions then oxide in the presence of oxygen within the electrolyte to form the oxide of iron known as “rust”. The reaction of iron to iron oxide gives off electrons that produces a minute direct current (DC).

The Corrosion Engineer’s “rule of thumb” is that one ampere of current flowing for one year will dissolve 20 pounds of steel. So even minute current flows over a period of time will cause major metal loss. PCA’s uniqueness is in it’s in-depth understanding of the corrosion process, resulting in services offered in the “testing for”, “effects of”, “remedies to” minimize or eliminate the destructive consequences.

The primary method we most often utilize to minimize corrosion is called “cathodic protection”, either “galvanic” or “impressed”. Our objective is similar in both approaches - reverse the current flow of the corrosive reaction, and the corrosion process will be stopped! When small surface areas need to be protected, the current flow of dissimilar metals coupled together is often sufficient. For instance, magnesium metal (anode) coupled to a steel structure (cathode) results in the preferential corrosion of magnesium, protecting the steel. For large surface area protection, a rectifier directly imposing a DC current through an anodic material will also produce a similar result - preferential corrosion of the anode - protection of the steel.

Knowledge and experience in the prevention of corrosion is what PCA New England offers. We have a passion for service and quality, and by working with us you will soon realize that these principals are demonstrated on a daily basis.