Corrosion Degradation (original) (raw)

CORROSION & CORROSION PREVENTION

Corrosion may be defined as the destruction or deterioration in properties of materials by interaction with their environments. It is a natural phenomenon. Engineers generally consider corrosion when dealing with metallic materials. However, the process affects all sorts of materials, for example, ceramics, plastics, rubber etc. Rusting of iron and steel is the most common example of corrosion. Swelling in plastics, hardening of rubber, deterioration of paint, and fluxing of the ceramic lining of a furnace are all incidences of corrosion in non metallic materials. Metallurgists may think of corrosion as reverse extractive metallurgy. Metals are extracted from their compounds occurring in nature through extractive metallurgy processes involving considerable expenditure of energy, natural resources, time, and man power. Corrosion works to convert the metal I back into the same compounds.