Corrosion Essay

Metals are degraded through the principle of corrosion. Corrosion is defined as “the gradual destruction of materials chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment.” The most common form of corrosion is the oxidation of iron, which is commonly known as rust, this is orange in colour and is the most common form of corrosion in everyday life. Corrosion is a natural process, which converts a material to a chemically-stable form such as its oxide, hydroxide or sulphide. It is a gradual destruction of materials that are usually metals, by chemical and or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engineering is the field dedicated to controlling and stopping corrosion. Both the type of metal and the environmental conditions determine the form and rate of

Others can be prevented by combining metals or the management of the metals environment. Other than gold, platinum and some other metals, metals are not found in their pure form as they are normally chemically bound to other substances in ores such as sulphides and oxides. Energy must be expended to extract the metals from the sulphides, oxides, to obtain pure metals and this can be done in a blast furnace. Pure metals strive to revert to their lowest energy state which they had as sulphides and oxides. One of the ways in which metals can revert to a low energy level is by corrosion. The products of corrosion of metals are often sulphides or oxides. There are many forms of corrosion such as general attack corrosion, localised corrosion and galvanic corrosion. General attack corrosion is a form of corrosion that attacks the entire surface of a metal structure and it is caused by chemical or electrochemical reactions. While general attack corrosion can cause a metal to fail, it is a predictable issue. It is possible to plan and manage for general attack