A History of Corrosion Control for Ductile Iron Pipe

Abstract From the “corrosion allowance” for Cast Iron pipe to the Design Decision Model for Ductile Iron pipe, this paper will present a history of corrosion control and how that has changed over time for what has been the most popular and long-used pipe material for water systems. Along the way we will discuss the first use of polyethylene encasement, the advent of an enhanced polyethylene encasement, the use of metallized zinc, bonded dielectric coatings and the current risk-based Design Decision Model for corrosion control. This paper will discuss decades of research and performance that have resulted in the development of a model intended to provide a minimum average service life of 100 years.