Polymeric materials atmospheric corrosion

Materials such as metals, alloys, steels and plastics form the theme of the fourth chapter. The behavior and use of cast irons, low alloy carbon steels and their application in atmospheric corrosion, fresh waters, seawater and soils are presented. This is followed by a discussion of stainless steels, martensitic steels and duplex steels and their behavior in various media. Aluminum and its alloys and their corrosion behavior in acids, fresh water, seawater, outdoor atmospheres and soils, copper and its alloys and their corrosion resistance in various media, nickel and its alloys and their corrosion behavior in various industrial environments, titanium and its alloys and their performance in various chemical environments, cobalt alloys and their applications, corrosion behavior of lead and its alloys, magnesium and its alloys together with their corrosion behavior, zinc and its alloys, along with their corrosion behavior, zirconium, its alloys and their corrosion behavior, tin and tin plate with their applications in atmospheric corrosion are discussed. The final part of the chapter concerns refractories and ceramics and polymeric materials and their application in various corrosive media. 

The broadest definition of corrosion is the degradation of a material s properties or mass over time because of the effect of the environment. We can think of this in simpler terms by recognizing this process as the tendency for a material to return to its most thermodynamically stable state. For most metallic materials, this means the formation of oxides or sulfides, or other basic metallic compounds generally considered to be ores. For polymeric materials, the end result could be a variety of simple organic compounds. Only in vacuums or under inert atmospheres can corrosion processes be expected to halt entirely. In most cases, these processes are slow enough to afford useful and practical equipment life. 

Polymeric materials such as rubber, resins and plastics are recorded as pyrolyzates, films, or in solution. The spectra of liquid samples are obtained in cesium bromide or iodide and KRS-5 cells. Since the latter cells give interference patterns and reflect approximately 30% of the incident beam at each surface, cesium bromide or iodide cells are more desirable for work in the long-wavelength region. The cesium bromide and iodide plates are soft and easily polished with paper towels. In an air conditioned room corrosion by atmospheric water vapor is not very serious, and with careful handling the cesium bromide cells are as easy to work with as potas-... 

Polymer chemists use DSC extensively to study percent crystallinity, crystallization rate, polymerization reaction kinetics, polymer degradation, and the effect of composition on the glass transition temperature, heat capacity determinations, and characterization of polymer blends. Materials scientists, physical chemists, and analytical chemists use DSC to study corrosion, oxidation, reduction, phase changes, catalysts, surface reactions, chemical adsorption and desorption (chemisorption), physical adsorption and desorption (physisorp-tion), fundamental physical properties such as enthalpy, boiling point, and equdibrium vapor pressure. DSC instruments permit the purge gas to be changed automatically, so sample interactions with reactive gas atmospheres can be studied. 

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