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API 571: Damage Mechanisms, Corrosion & Cracking
New

API 571: Damage Mechanisms, Corrosion & Cracking

Master corrosion, SCC, HTHA & creep — the mechanism knowledge behind API 510, 570, 580 RBI and 579 FFS
New
Created byProjectEngPro Engineering and Project Management
Last updated 7/2026
English

What you'll learn

  • Identify the credible damage mechanisms for any fixed-equipment item from its material, process environment and operating temperature
  • Link each mechanism to the inspection method that actually detects it — and know where on the equipment to look
  • Apply mechanism knowledge to RBI likelihood-of-failure scoring and inspection planning
  • Read any API 571 mechanism entry fast — material, critical factors, appearance, prevention and inspection
  • Diagnose the thinning mechanisms that drive most inspection scope — sulfidation, naphthenic acid, CO2, amine, sour water, HCl, erosion and CUI
  • Recognise environment-assisted cracking — chloride and caustic SCC, and wet-H2S damage including HIC, SOHIC and SSC
  • Assess high-temperature damage — creep, high-temperature hydrogen attack and the Nelson curves, oxidation and carburisation
  • Spot metallurgical and mechanical damage — temper and 885°F embrittlement, brittle fracture, and mechanical and thermal fatigue
  • Use damage-mechanism reviews to set and defend Integrity Operating Windows (IOWs)
  • Predict the mechanisms most likely to appear in each refining, chemical and petrochemical unit

Course content

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

  • Why Damage Mechanisms Matter10:16
  • Corrosion Basics13:20
  • Reading an API 571 Mechanism Entry10:16
  • Damage Mechanism Classification9:06

Requirements

  • No prior corrosion or metallurgy knowledge is required — the fundamentals are built from first principles in Section 1
  • Any engineering or technical background is enough to follow the course
  • Helpful but not essential: some exposure to pressure equipment, piping or plant operations
  • No software or purchases needed — a copy of API 571 is useful alongside the course but not required

Description

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

API 571 is the answer. It is the catalogue of damage mechanisms affecting fixed equipment in refining and petrochemical service — and the foundation underneath API 510, API 570, API 580 and API 579. Get the mechanism wrong and every decision downstream of it is wrong too.

This course teaches API 571 as a working discipline, not a reading exercise. Every mechanism is covered the way the standard structures it: ▸material affected, critical factors, appearance, prevention, and inspection method — so you finish knowing not just what a mechanism is, but where to look for it and what you would actually see.

▸ What you will master

  • ▸Thinning mechanisms that drive the majority of inspection scope — high-temperature sulfidation, naphthenic acid corrosion, CO2 corrosion, amine and sour water corrosion, HCl corrosion, erosion-corrosion, and corrosion under insulation (CUI)

  • ▸Environment-assisted cracking — chloride SCC, caustic and amine SCC, wet H2S damage including HIC, SOHIC and SSC, carbonate SCC and polythionic acid SCC

  • ▸High-temperature mechanisms — creep and stress rupture, high-temperature hydrogen attack and the Nelson curves, oxidation, carburisation, metal dusting and overheating

  • ▸Metallurgical and mechanical mechanisms — temper, 885°F and sigma phase embrittlement, brittle fracture, and mechanical and thermal fatigue

  • ▸How to apply it — reading an API 571 mechanism entry efficiently, classifying damage, and using damage-mechanism reviews to set Integrity Operating Windows (IOWs)

▸ Who this course is for

  • Inspection, integrity and corrosion engineers working to API 510, 570 or 653

  • Engineers preparing for API certification exams where API 571 is a source document

  • RBI practitioners who need to identify credible damage mechanisms with confidence

  • Process, materials and reliability engineers in refining, petrochemical, oil and gas, and chemical plants

  • Asset owners and maintenance leads who need to understand why inspection plans say what they say

▸ Why learn it here

This is the "why" layer that makes inspection intelligent rather than mechanical. It is taught by a Chartered Engineer (CEng MIMechE) with over fifteen years delivering safety-critical projects in oil, gas and energy infrastructure — someone who has had to make these calls on real assets, not just read about them.

▸ What you get

  • Nearly 4 hours of structured, on-demand video across 20 focused lectures

  • Lifetime access, mobile and TV access, and a certificate of completion

  • Udemy's 30-day money-back guarantee

▸No prior corrosion background is assumed — the course opens with corrosion fundamentals before building to the advanced mechanisms. If you plan inspections, run RBI, or assess fixed-equipment integrity, this is the mechanism knowledge everything else depends on.

Enrol now and stop guessing at failure modes.

Who this course is for:

  • Integrity and inspection engineers who plan inspections and run risk-based-inspection studies
  • Corrosion and materials engineers responsible for damage management and material selection
  • API 510, 570 and 653 holders who need the mechanism knowledge their certifications assume
  • Reliability and fixed-equipment engineers managing ageing-asset integrity
  • Process engineers who need to understand how operating conditions drive equipment damage
  • Engineers preparing for API 510, 570, 653 or SIFE certification exams, where API 571 is an assumed source document
  • Graduate and early-career engineers moving into inspection, integrity or materials roles

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