ABSTRACT

The control of the chemical reactivity of ceramics with their environment is one of the most important problems facing the ceramics industry today. Through the study of corrosion phenomena, one can learn how best to provide the control of the chemical reactivity that will provide a maximum service life expectancy at a minimum cost. Most methods used to minimize corrosion have generally been methods that slow the overall reaction rates. Once a complete understanding is available, however, one can attempt to change the reaction mechanism to something less harmful, in addition to slowing the rate. Corrosion reactivity is affected by the following items (not necessarily listed in the order of importance):

1. heat transfer, 2. mass transfer, 3. diffusion-limited processes, 4. contact area, 5. mechanism, 6. surface-to-volume ratio, 7. temperature, and 8. time.