Corrosion science

Fontana, M. G., and R. W. Staehle. Advances in Corrosion Science and Technology, Vol. 2 (New York Plenum Publishing Corp., 1972). 

Industrial Corrosion is the main journal of the Institution of Corrosion Science and Technology, PO Box 253, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 7WB. 

Definition of corrosion in the context of Corrosion Science the reaction of a solid with its environment. 

The very new techniques of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have yet to establish themselves in the field of corrosion science. These techniques are capable of revealing surface structure to atomic resolution, and are totally undamaging to the surface. They can be used in principle in any environment in situ, even under polarization within an electrolyte. Their application to date has been chiefly to clean metal surfaces and surfaces carrying single monolayers of adsorbed material, rendering examination of the adsorption of inhibitors possible. They will indubitably find use in passive film analysis. 

Although the zones of corrosion, immunity and passivity are clearly of fundamental importance in corrosion science it must be emphasised again that they have serious limitations in the solution of practical problems, and can lead to unfortunate misconceptions unless they are interpreted with caution. Nevertheless, Pourbaix and his co-workers, and others, have shown that these diagrams used in conjunction with E-i curves for the systems under consideration can provide diagrams that are of direct practical use to the corrosion engineer. It is therefore relevant to consider the advantages and limitations of the equilibrium potential-pH diagrams. 

There are in addition several other factors that accelerate corrosion and must betaken into account these include crevices, galvanic coupling, tensile stress, aeration, presence of impurities, surface finish, etc. If these were also taken into consideration then several million experiments would have to be performed to compile such data. There are many instances where two or more chemicals exert a marked synergistic action such that low dissolution rates obtained in either environment become much greater in the presence of both. Further, the corrosiveness of a chemical will be affected by the presence of certain impurities, which may act as either accelerators or inhibitors. To take all these factors into account would add to an already impossible task and as Evans has remarked, There are not enough trained investigators in the world to obtain the empirical information to cover all combinations of conditions likely to arise . Unfortunately corrosion science has not yet reached the stage where prediction, based on a few well established laws, allows selection of materials to be made without recourse to a vast amount of data. 

Hultquist, G. and Her0, H. Surface Enoblement by Dissolution of Cu, Ag and Zn from Single Phase Gold Alloys , Corrosion Science, 24, 789-805 (1984)... 

Revie, R. W. and Greene, N. D., Corrosion Behaviour of Surgical Implant Materials 1 Effects of Sterilisation , Corrosion Science, 9, 755-761 (1969)... 

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