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Anodic and Cathodic Protection - Compare The Difference Between Similar Terms

Anodic protection and cathodic protection are two electrochemical processes used to prevent corrosion. The key difference is that in anodic protection, the surface to be protected acts as the anode, while in cathodic protection the surface acts as the cathode. Anodic protection involves adjusting the metal's potential to form a protective layer, while cathodic protection uses sacrificial anodes or impressed current to reverse current flow and protect the cathode. Both processes make the protected surface either the anode or cathode in an electrochemical cell to prevent corrosion.

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17 views

Anodic and Cathodic Protection - Compare The Difference Between Similar Terms

Anodic protection and cathodic protection are two electrochemical processes used to prevent corrosion. The key difference is that in anodic protection, the surface to be protected acts as the anode, while in cathodic protection the surface acts as the cathode. Anodic protection involves adjusting the metal's potential to form a protective layer, while cathodic protection uses sacrificial anodes or impressed current to reverse current flow and protect the cathode. Both processes make the protected surface either the anode or cathode in an electrochemical cell to prevent corrosion.

Uploaded by

PunkajGupta
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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8/29/23, 3:08 PM Difference Between Anodic and Cathodic Protection | Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms

Difference Between Anodic and


Cathodic Protection
June 24, 2019 Posted by Madhu
The key difference between anodic and cathodic protection is that in anodic protection, the surface to
be protected acts as the anode whereas, in cathodic protection, the surface to be protected acts as the
cathode.

Anodic and cathodic protection are two electrochemical processes we use to prevent surfaces
from  corrosion or rusting. In an electrochemical process, we use an  electrochemical cell  with two
electrodes as anode and cathode. In anodic and cathodic protection processes, we use the surface to be
protected (substrate) as either anode or cathode, which leads to name those processes as such. Sacrificial
protection is a type of cathodic protection in which we use a metal as a sacrificial anode. In this process,
this sacrificial metal corrodes while avoiding the corrosion of the cathode.

CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Anodic Protection
3. What is Cathodic Protection
4. Side by Side Comparison – Anodic vs Cathodic Protection in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Anodic Protection?


Anodic protection is a type of electrochemical process in which we can protect a metal surface by making
it the anode in the electrochemical cell. We can denote this as AP. However, this method is possible only
for material-environment combinations that show fairly wide passive regions. i.e.  steel  and  stainless
steel in 98% sulfuric acid.

In AP, we need to bring the metal to a high potential. Then, the metal becomes passive due to the
formation of a protective layer. However, AP is not widely used as cathodic protection because it is limited
to metals which has a sufficiently reliable passive layer on the surface; for example, stainless steel.

There are two major considerations for the application of AP. First, we need to ensure that the whole
system is in the passive range. Second, we need to have precise knowledge of ions, which can lead to
extensive pitting.

What is Cathodic Protection?


Cathodic protection is a type of electrochemical process in which we can protect a metal surface by
making it the cathode in the electrochemical cell. We can denote it as CP. CP can prevent metal surfaces
from corrosion. There are different types of CP; for example, galvanic protection or sacrificial protection,

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8/29/23, 3:08 PM Difference Between Anodic and Cathodic Protection | Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms

impressed current systems and hybrid systems.

Figure 01: Impressed Current Systems

In this method, the sacrificial metal corrodes instead of the protected metal. If we use cathodic protection
for large structures such as long pipelines, galvanic protection technique is not enough. Therefore, we
need to provide sufficient current using an external DC electrical power source.

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Figure 02: A Sacrificial Anode – Zinc Layer

Moreover, we can use this technique to protect fuel or water pipelines made of steel, storage tanks, ships
and boat hulls, galvanized steel, etc.

What is the Difference Between


Anodic and Cathodic Protection?
Anodic protection is a type of electrochemical process in which we can protect a metal surface by making
it the anode in the electrochemical cell, while cathodic protection is a type of electrochemical process in
which we can protect a metal surface by making it the cathode in the electrochemical cell.  So, the key
difference between anodic and cathodic protection is that, in anodic protection, the surface to be
protected acts as the anode whereas, in cathodic protection, it is the cathode.

Furthermore, anodic protection involves the suppression of reactivity of a metal by adjusting the potential
of the more reactive metal; however, cathodic protection involves the reversing of the flow of current
between two dissimilar electrodes. Therefore, we can consider this too as a difference between anodic
and cathodic protection.

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Summary – Anodic vs Cathodic


Protection
Anodic protection is a type of electrochemical process in which we can protect a metal surface by making
it the anode in the electrochemical cell, while cathodic protection is a type of electrochemical process in
which we can protect a metal surface by making it the cathode in the electrochemical cell. The key

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8/29/23, 3:08 PM Difference Between Anodic and Cathodic Protection | Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms

difference between anodic and cathodic protection is that, in anodic protection, the surface to be
protected acts as the anode whereas, in cathodic protection, it is the cathode.

Reference:
1. “What Is a Sacrificial Protection? – Definition from Corrosionpedia.” Corrosionpedia, Available here.

Image Courtesy:
1. “Cathodic Protection diagram” By Cafe Nervosa – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Sacrificial anode” By Zwergelstern (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia

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