ABSTRACT
Corrosion, from the Latin corrodere, means ‘‘to chew away’’, ‘‘to attack’’. It is estimated that corrosion destroys one quarter of the world’s annual steel production, which corresponds to about 150 million tons per year, or 5 tons per second. Of course, corrosion is not limited to steel but affects all materials: metals, polymers and ceramics. It is the result of chemical and/or physical interactions between the material and its environment. Examples of the corrosion phenomena include:
• transformation of steel into rust; • cracking of brass in the presence of ammonia; • oxidation of an electrical contact made of copper; • weakening of high-resistance steal by hydrogen; • hot corrosion of a super-alloy in a gas turbine; • swelling of PVC in contact with a solvent; • chemical attack of a nylon tube by an oxidizing acid; • alkaline attack on refractory bricks; • chemical attack of mineral glass by an alkaline solution.
