The flange is an important part of the pipeline system. In order to meet the harsh production needs and reduce sudden shutdown caused by leakage, effective monitoring and detection technology is essential. Generally speaking, people are more concerned about the leakage between flange surfaces and neglect the protection of fasteners and pipeline exterior. In a harsh external environment, this may cause extremely serious consequences.

Insufficient external protection will accelerate and expand the damage of flanges and fasteners, which will accelerate the deterioration of the entire sealing system. The consequences of this situation are unpredictable beforehand because it depends entirely on the specific operating conditions and environment. In an extremely harsh environment, external corrosion may quickly destroy the structural integrity of the system, resulting in catastrophic seal failure.

Because the visual inspection of the flange connection sealing surface can only be carried out when the whole system is down, the inspection procedure should be as simple as possible, so the external corrosion should be eliminated first. If it can’t shut down, it can only be detected by ultrasonic technology. In the case of uncontrollable external corrosion, this process will be more complex and can’t get accurate test results.

Therefore, in order to monitor the whole system and provide effective and feasible quality control and maintenance procedures, external corrosion protection of flanges and fasteners is very important.