Corrosion: Why It Matters

What is Corrosion?

Corrosion is simply a phenomena when metals deteriorate due to reaction with its environment. For example, 2 metal fences with one being painted while the other without any painting work will look differently as time passes by. Without any painting, the fence will become rusty and corrode quicker than the one with paint. This is due to the different environment that the fences are exposed to. The paint behave as a protector for the fence.

Why Care on Corrosion?

There are many aspects on why we all should care on corrosion. In broader term, this can be due to financial loss, safety issue, environmental impact or even aesthetic pleasure.

More detailed reasons on why should we care on corrosion are outlined as followed:

Production loss - When corrosion happens, manufacturing companies need to shut down their equipment for servicing and repair works, which reduced their production volume + additional cost incurred from the repair jobs.

Accident - If corrosion is too severe, accidents may happen. (i.e- collapsing of bridge or metal stairways)

Hazardous - Corrosion may cause the medium inside the equipment (i.e-pipe) to be exposed to the environment and people. The medium can be as dangerous as hydrogen gas or acids. Trust me, you never want to be near those.

Appearance - Red rust from the corroding iron and steel doesn't portray good image nor it is good for tourism industry. Quite unsightly.

Fines - Corrosion that leads to spills or leaks to the environment may receive fines from the authorities.

Example of collapsing bridge due to corrosion problem

Type of Corrosion?

When discussion about corrosion, one need to understand that there are many forms or types of corrosion that exist. The type of corrosion depends mainly on the corrosion mechanism, the temperature and the medium that is causing the corrosion., to say the least. Usually, corrosion is classified as followed:

General corrosion
Localised corrosion
Galvanic corrosion
Environmental cracking
Flow-assisted corrosion
Intergranular corrosion
High temperature corrosion

That's all from me on corrosion topic for this post. Hope everyone can learn something.

Till then, thank you.

Cheers,

@rahim.rahman