Abstract
The fouling of material surface through the adhesion of marine organisms such as mussels and barnacles is a serious problem for facilities that involve the use of seawater. The use of copper alloys to avoid such fouling is promising because they release copper ions that inhibit the growth of marine organisms. However, the release of copper ions leads to the deterioration of the alloy through corrosion. Thus, these two conflicting characteristics makes the use of such alloys questionable. We describe here, however, a copper alloy that has excellent anti-fouling characteristics and is also satisfactory resistant to corrosion. The effect of two types of alloying elements, namely Ni and Be, on the corrosion of a copper alloy was examined. The former would be expected to promote corrosion resistance, and the latter to serve as an anti-fouling agent. Corrosion tests were carried out in a jet-in-slit apparatus in which so-called erosion-corrosion as well as the flow velocity difference-induced corrosion can be rapidly reproduced. As expected, an increase in Ni content leads to an increase in the corrosion resistance of the copper alloy. Too high content of Ni, however, causes pitting corrosion. Contrary to expectations, the addition of Be decreased the depth of corrosion.
