What Is The Sacrificial Anode Designed For?

A sacrificial anode is an element that prevents corrosion of other materials to which it is connected. Sacrificial anodes provide grounding protection, increase the serviceability of buried electrodes, and prevent premature aging due to the effects of corrosion. Cathodic protection of sacrificial anodes is one of the more common methods of reducing the effect of corrosive electrodes. It is recommended to be installed in low resistivity areas to protect metal elements connected to the grounding system (tanks, pipelines, etc.). They are also used to protect installations from stray currents (railway grounding systems or grounding systems close to high-voltage power lines). It is also recommended to install near grounded rail sections or power lines to prevent velocity degradation due to stray currents. Sacrificial anodes are designed to act as corrosion "bait" for materials that need protection from corrosive forces. Sacrificial anodes, which are usually steels with more negative electrochemical potentials, can include zinc, aluminum, and magnesium, based on their position in the galvanic series. Sacrificial anodes are metals that are used to corrode the surface of less active materials. Sacrificial anodes are made of metal alloys that have a more negative electrochemical potential than the other metals they are used to protect. The sacrificial anode will be consumed to replace the metal it protects, which is why it is called an anode. The metal becomes more negatively charged. Therefore, since zinc, aluminum and magnesium are more electronegative than steel, when they come into electrical contact in water, they are increasingly able to donate electrons to the positively charged steel and will affect the cathodic protection of the steel surface.