Corrosion can cause issues for virtually any company with equipment. From infrastructure development, transportation, chemical processing and even water systems, the threat of corrosion is ever-present.

In some situations, unchecked corrosion can lead to catastrophic accidents. This is why it's essential to be proactive about preventing corrosion, especially when it comes to underground degradation. Fortunately, a new technology is making early detection far simpler.

The current method of detecting corrosion in underground pipes can be quite expensive, and in reality, a person would be hard-pressed to even refer to these methods as "technology." Present corrosion detection methods usually only allow corrosion problems to be discerned after a pipe wall's thickness has suffered 30 percent damage.

To detect this corrosion, though, it's often necessary to use ultrasonic measurements and, in some cases, even dig up the pipe. Coatings also sometimes have to be removed to get a good look at rust and other corrosive issues.

Unfortunately, having to wait until damage is already significant can be a dangerous detection method. While various corrosion prevention methods are used, such as galvanizing and consistent paint application, none of these methods is completely foolproof.

Luckily, the Deakin University of Australia and the Pipelines Cooperative Research Centre may have found a way to detect corrosion without having to remove coatings and long before significant damage exists.

A new sensor can monitor pipeline damage caused by corrosion. It provides electrochemical measurements for pipelines and underground storage tanks without the tedious and often ineffectual method of digging up underground metal. Tests on this new sensor method, which monitors and identifies potential damage in real time, have only taken place in laboratories thus far, but real tests are expected soon.

The technology is geared toward industries that use gas and oil pipelines; however, it could easily be used alongside corrosion inhibitors and other technologies for early detection of spalling and further corrosive damage seen in rebar and other materials that are used to keep infrastructure standing strong.

It's not as if digging up pipelines is the only way to detect potential corrosion, but other methods can prove just as expensive and unreliable. "Smart pigging," for instance, is a common method where a testing device is taken through a pipe by the normal flow of the inner material.

Again, this is an expensive test and is usually only performed once every five years. This presents a large window when a life-threatening disaster could occur due to failed corrosion prevention methods. Additionally, significant damage is still necessary for detection.

In the end, this new sensor technology proves to be a much more cost-effective way of recognizing potentially serious damage. The frequency with which monitoring is performed — combined with the technology's ability to be used with other detection measures — makes it stand out among corrosion detection methods.

The ability to expand this technology outside of the oil and gas industries is also promising, and thanks to our friends "down under," the way we protect our infrastructure could be changed forever in less than a year's time.