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API 571: Damage Mechanisms, Corrosion & Cracking
Rating: 4.8 out of 5(3 ratings)
18 students

API 571: Damage Mechanisms, Corrosion & Cracking

Master corrosion, SCC, HTHA & creep — the mechanism knowledge behind API 510, 570, 580 RBI and 579 FFS
Created byProjectEngPro Engineering and Project Management
Last updated 8/2026
English

What you'll learn

  • Identify the credible damage mechanisms for an equipment item from its material, process and temperature
  • Link each mechanism to the inspection method that detects it and know where on the equipment to look
  • Read any API 571 mechanism entry quickly: materials, critical factors, appearance, prevention, inspection
  • Diagnose thinning from sulfidation, naphthenic acid, CO2, amine, sour water, HCl, erosion and CUI
  • Recognise chloride, caustic and amine SCC and wet H2S damage including HIC, SOHIC and SSC
  • Assess creep, high-temperature hydrogen attack and the Nelson curves, oxidation and carburisation
  • Spot temper and 885°F embrittlement, brittle fracture and mechanical and thermal fatigue
  • Use damage mechanism reviews to support RBI and set Integrity Operating Windows

Course content

6 sections • 20 lectures • 3h 39m total length

  • Why Damage Mechanisms Matter10:16

    Why identifying damage mechanisms is the basis of every integrity decision on fixed equipment, and who does what in a damage mechanism review.

  • Corrosion Basics13:20

    The basic principles of corrosion in carbon steel equipment, the electrochemical cell that drives it, and how deposits concentrate corrosive species.

  • Reading an API 571 Mechanism Entry10:16

    How to read and apply an API 571 damage mechanism entry, from description and affected materials to critical factors, affected equipment and inspection methods.

  • Damage Mechanism Classification9:06

    How API 571 damage mechanisms are classified into thinning, cracking, high-temperature and metallurgical groups, and how each links to inspection and fitness-for-service.

  • Section 1 Quiz: API 571: CORROSION & DAMAGE FUNDAMENTALS

Requirements

  • No prior corrosion or metallurgy knowledge is required, Section 1 starts from the basics
  • Any engineering or technical background is enough
  • Helpful but not essential: some exposure to pressure equipment, piping or plant operations
  • A copy of API 571 is useful alongside the course but not required

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.


Every inspection plan, RBI study and fitness-for-service assessment depends on one question: how does this equipment actually fail?

API 571 answers that question. It is the reference for damage mechanisms in fixed equipment, and it sits underneath API 510, 570, 580 and 579.

Get the mechanism wrong and every decision after it is wrong too. This course teaches API 571 as a working tool.

In this course you will learn how to identify damage mechanisms and where to look for them.


WHAT YOU WILL LEARN TO DO

By the end of this course you will be able to:

  • Identify credible damage mechanisms from material, process and temperature

  • Read an API 571 mechanism entry quickly and use it

  • Recognise the main thinning mechanisms, including sulfidation, CO2 and CUI

  • Recognise SCC and wet H2S damage: HIC, SOHIC and SSC

  • Assess creep, HTHA and other high-temperature damage

  • Recognise embrittlement, brittle fracture and fatigue

  • Link each mechanism to the inspection method that finds it

  • Use damage mechanism reviews to set Integrity Operating Windows


HOW THE COURSE IS TAUGHT

  • Each mechanism covered the way API 571 sets it out: materials, critical factors, appearance, prevention and inspection

  • Starts with corrosion basics before moving to advanced mechanisms

  • Focused on where to look and what you would see

  • Section quizzes with explained answers


WHAT IS COVERED

  • Why damage mechanisms matter, corrosion basics and how to read an API 571 entry

  • Thinning: sulfidation, naphthenic acid, CO2, amine, sour water, HCl, erosion and external loss

  • Cracking: chloride, caustic, amine, carbonate and polythionic acid SCC, and wet H2S damage

  • High temperature: creep, HTHA, oxidation, carburisation, metal dusting and overheating

  • Metallurgical and mechanical: embrittlement, brittle fracture and fatigue

  • Integrity Operating Windows


100 PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Every section ends with a quiz built around realistic scenarios, so you test your understanding as you go and reinforce what you have learned. Each answer comes with a short explanation.


Enrol today and stop guessing at failure modes.

Who this course is for:

  • Inspection and integrity engineers planning inspections and running RBI studies
  • Candidates for API 510, 570, 653 or SIFE exams where API 571 is a source document
  • Corrosion and materials engineers managing damage and material selection
  • Process engineers who need to see how operating conditions drive equipment damage
  • Graduates moving into inspection, integrity or materials roles

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