General

This standard describes a test method for evaluating the VIA of various forms of VCI materials to reduce corrosion on the surface of ferrous metals. This standard is applicable to VCI materials in the form of thin flexible, rigid, or laminate materials. Examples of thin flexible VCI materials are VCI-treated paper or VCI-impregnated plastic films, sheets, and bags. Examples of more rigid materials include thicker plastic sheeting of 1,000 µm (40 mil) or more in thickness as well as profile board and molded trays, boxes, and other rigid forms. This standard is also applicable to other forms of VCI material such as powders, tablets, plastic pellets, vapor capsules, diffusers, and emitters, as well as liquids that have vapor-inhibiting properties, perhaps in addition to contact inhibitor effects.

The essence of this standard is a relatively quick, inexpensive, and basic laboratory test in a reusable sealed jar to determine the VIA of various VCI materials to reduce corrosion on the surface of ferrous metals (VIA-Ferrous test). A competent laboratory should be able to achieve reasonable and reproducible results in distinguishing between VCI materials that have VIA-Ferrous properties and those that do not, including the VIA-Ferrous performance component of multimetal VCI materials. Materials that perform well in this test exhibit a combined effect of (1) vapor transport (without contact between the VCI material sample and the test surface of the steel specimen) and (2) corrosion inhibition on the surface of the steel specimen exposed to conditions of water-saturated, warm air followed by condensing water.

This VIA-Ferrous test method provides a basic qualitative test with limited differentiation among VCI materials. Finer differentiation and comparisons of relative performance among VCI materials is beyond the scope of this test method.

A numerical rating system has been established for describing and reporting the VIA efficacy of the VCI material sample tested. The user of this VIA-Ferrous test method may specify a pass/fail criterion associated with this numerical rating system. The user must select the pass/fail criterion, as described in Paragraph 6.6, to be used for the VIA-Ferrous test.

An optional compatibility check may be performed to determine whether a VCI-treated barrier material (e.g., film, paper) that is intended for temporary protection of ferrous metals causes corrosion of copper (see Section 7). The copper compatibility check is not required unless specified by manufacturer or user of the VCI-treated barrier material. Further tests related to nonferrous metals are beyond the scope of this VCI-Ferrous test standard.