Erosion Corrosion
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Erosion Corrosion |
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Erosion corrosion of washing machine
The appliance industry is one of the largest consumer product industries. For practical purposes, two categories of appliances are distinguished: "Major Home Appliances" and "Comfort Conditioning Appliances." In 1999, a total of 70.7 million major home appliances and a total of 49.5 million comfort conditioning appliances were sold in the United States, for a total of 120.2 million appliances.
The cost of corrosion in home appliances includes the cost of purchasing replacement appliances because of premature failure due to corrosion. For water heaters alone, the replacement cost was estimated at $460 million per year, using a low estimate of 5 percent of the replacement being corrosion-related. The cost of internal corrosion protection for all appliances includes the use of sacrificial anodes ($780 million per year), corrosion-resistant materials (no cost estimate), and internal coatings (no cost estimate). The cost of external corrosion protection using coatings was estimated at $260 million per year. Therefore, the estimated total annual direct cost of corrosion in home appliances is at least $1.5 billion. (reference)
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