information by Mars G. Fontana HIS is
part one of a two part article
Tdescribing t h e world’s largest cor-
rosion testing station located near Wilmington, N. C., and operated by T h e International Nickel Co. T’aluable information has been gathered through the years on corrosion of metals a n d alloys, nonmetallic materials including coatings, and also on marine organisms and fouling. The exposures involve sea water and marine atmospheres b u t t h e data obtained are applicable to many other environments and t o corrosion in general. Sea water is studied a t the Harbor Island Station, Wrightsville Beach, a n d t h e atmospheric exposure station is located at Iiure Beach. Various groups meet here in M a y and June t o discuss corrosion problems.
Figure 1.
z
Atmospheric test racks a t Kure Beach
History. Some preliminary tests in 1935 indicated t h a t a lorn nickel ?tee1 would be better t h a n ordinary carbon steel for construction of ships. Further testing and evaluation were desired but facilities were not available. Then F. L. LaQue of Inco visited t h e Ethyl-Dow Chemical Corp.’s bromine plant, near Kure Beach, which handled a large volume of sea water. This site appeared t o be good for testing t h e nickel and carbon steels and permission was obtained. T h e nickel steel producer, Inco, the brass people, and the Navy wanted t o test other materials. T h e project snowballed a n d within a short time about 4000 test specimens were immersed in sea water. M a n y producers of maJuly 1955
