Corrosion and Microbiological Evaluation of a Recovered Experimental Platform from the site of DKM U166

Summary

In 2003, an experimental corrosion platform was placed at the bow of the German submarine, U-166. This platform incorporated fifteen coupons including high carbon, low carbon steel, aluminum, and copper along with oak and mahogany wood coupons. This platform was recovered in 2014 and evaluated for microbiologically influenced corrosion. During the eleven years of deep ocean placement, the oak coupons degraded in four to six years while the mahogany disappeared after ten years. Biomass was generated on the high carbon, low carbon, and aluminum coupons, but not on the copper.  Gravimetric analysis of the coupons revealed that the stressed steel coupons had up to 39% loss of metals, but the copper coupons exhibited no significant losses. A differential formation of biomass was present which may imply there were electromagnetic fluxes from the reaction of the copper coupons with the others causing microbiologically influenced corrosion of the metals. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Deepwater Shipwrecks and Oil Spill Impacts: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Understanding Site Formation Processes...and in 3-D!   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 506