API-571 Exam Information and Outline
Corrosion and Materials Professional
API-571 Exam Syllabus & Study Guide
Before you start practicing with our exam simulator, it is essential to understand the official API-571 exam objectives. This course outline serves as your roadmap, breaking down exactly which technical domains and skills will be tested. By reviewing the syllabus, you can identify your strengths and focus your study time on the areas where you need the most improvement.
The information below reflects the latest 2026 course contents as defined by API. We provide this detailed breakdown to help you align your preparation with the actual exam format, ensuring there are no surprises on test day. Use this outline as a checklist to track your progress as you move through our practice question banks.
Below are complete topics detail with latest syllabus and course outline, that will help you good knowledge about exam objectives and topics that you have to prepare. These contents are covered in questions and answers pool of exam.
Exam Code: API-571
Exam Name: Corrosion and Materials Professional
Total number of questions: 110 questions
Scored questions: 100 (the remaining 10 are pre-test / unscored)
Exam duration / time allotted: 3.25 hours (3 hours 15 minutes)
Question format: Multiple-choice
1. Terms- Definitions- and Acronyms (5-10% of exam)
- Basic terminology related to corrosion- materials degradation- and inspection.
- Key acronyms from API RP 571- such as those for environmental cracking (e.g.- SCC for Stress Corrosion Cracking)- high-temperature degradation (e.g.- HTHA for High-Temperature Hydrogen Attack)- and inspection methods (e.g.- UT for Ultrasonic Testing).
- Expected knowledge: Define and differentiate terms like "creep-" "fatigue-" "embrittlement-" and "morphology" in the context of refinery equipment.
2. General Corrosion and Materials Knowledge (5-10% of exam)
- Overview of corrosion principles: Uniform corrosion- localized corrosion (pitting- crevice)- galvanic corrosion- and microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC).
- Materials selection: Common alloys in refining (e.g.- carbon steels- low-alloy steels- stainless steels- duplex alloys- nickel-based alloys).
- Environmental factors: pH- temperature- pressure- and fluid chemistry influencing degradation.
- Inspection fundamentals: Non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques like visual inspection- radiography (RT)- magnetic particle testing (MT)- and dye penetrant testing (PT).
3. Damage Mechanisms (80-85% of exam)
- Name of the Mechanism: Standard nomenclature from API RP 571.
- Description of Damage: How the mechanism initiates and propagates.
- Affected Materials: Specific alloys or components vulnerable.
- Critical Factors: Environmental conditions (e.g.- temperature thresholds- chemical concentrations) that accelerate damage.
- Affected Units or Equipment: Common locations in refineries (e.g.- crude units- hydrocrackers- amine units).
- Appearance or Morphology of Damage: Visual- macroscopic- or microscopic indicators (e.g.- branched cracks- grooving).
- Prevention/Mitigation: Design- material substitution- inhibitors- or operational controls.
- Inspection and Monitoring: Recommended NDT methods- monitoring intervals- and fitness-for-service assessments (per API 579).
A. General Material Degradation (Mechanical and Thermal)
- Mechanical fatigue: Cyclic loading causing crack initiation.
- Thermal fatigue: Temperature fluctuations leading to cracking.
- Creep and stress rupture: High-temperature deformation under load.
- Brittle fracture: Low-temperature- high-stress failure.
- Erosion (e.g.- solid particle- liquid impingement): Material loss from flow.
- Vibration-induced fatigue: Equipment resonance issues.
- Spheroidization: Loss of strength in overheated steels.
- Temper embrittlement: Silicon/manganese effects in low-alloy steels.
B. Corrosion-Focused Mechanisms
- Uniform corrosion: General thinning (e.g.- CO2 corrosion in wet environments).
- Galvanic corrosion: Dissimilar metal couples.
- Atmospheric corrosion: External surface rusting.
- Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC): Bacterial activity in biofilms.
- Sour water corrosion (SWC): H2S in wet acidic conditions.
- Amine corrosion: Degradation in gas treating units.
- CO2 corrosion (sweet corrosion): Carbonic acid effects in pipelines.
- Hydrochloric acid (HCl) corrosion: From salt in crude.
- Sulfuric acid corrosion: Battery limits in alkylation units.
- Caustic corrosion: Embrittlement in pH>12 environments.
- High-temperature sulfidic corrosion (HTSC): FeS scale formation.
- Carburization and metal dusting: Carbon ingress at high temperatures.
- Oxidation: Scale formation on metals.
- Flue gas dew point corrosion: Sulfuric acid in stacks.
C. Environmental and Stress Cracking
- Stress-oriented hydrogen-induced cracking (SOHIC): Lined-up cracks in wet H2S.
- Hydrogen blistering: Gas pressure buildup.
- Stress corrosion cracking (SCC): Caustic- chloride- polythionic- or alkaline variants.
- Hydrogen stress cracking (HSC): HF acid in alkylation.
- Sulfide stress cracking (SSC): Wet H2S on hardenable steels.
- Amine stress corrosion cracking (ACC): CO2-loaded amines.
- Wet H2S environmental cracking: NACE MR0175 compliance.
D. High-Temperature Degradation
- High-temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA): Methane formation in steels.
- High-temperature oxidation: Alloy-specific scaling.
- Nitriding: Nitrogen absorption in ammonia services.
- Graphitization: Carbon segregation in cast irons.
- Short-term elevated temperature exposure: Temporary property loss.
E. Other Specialized Mechanisms
- Dissimilar weld metal cracking: Chromium carbide issues.
- Reheat cracking: Weld heat-affected zone failures.
- Delayed coking unit (DCU) decoke damage: Coke buildup erosion.
- Liquid metal embrittlement (LME): Mercury or lead effects.
- Corrosion fatigue: Combined cyclic stress and corrosive environment.
- Selective leaching (dealloying): Dezincification in brasses.