What is Corrosion
What is Corrosion?
Corrosion can be defined as the destructive attack
of a metal through interaction with its environment.
DRIVING FORCE FOR CORROSION.
In order to answer the question What is Corrosion? is necessary to understand how corrosion works and why metals are affected by corrosion.
Most metals used in the construction, steel, stainless steel grades, copper, are subject to corrosion.
This is due to the high energy content of the elements in metallic form.
In nature, most metals are found in chemical combination with other elements; these metallic ores are refined by man and formed into metals and alloys.
As the
energy content of the metals and alloys is higher than that of their ores,
chemical re-combination of the metals to form ore like compounds, corrosion provess, is a natural
process.
FUNDAMENTAL MECHANISM OF ATTACK.
Corrosion of metals takes place through the action of electrochemical cells. Although this single mechanism is responsible, the corrosion can take many forms.
Through an understanding of the electrochemical
cell and how it can act to cause the various forms of corrosion, the natural
tendency of metals to corrode can be overcome and equipment that is resistant to
failure by corrosion can be designed.
As in all chemical reactions, corrosion reactions occur through an exchange of electrons.
In electrochemical reactions, the electrons are produced by a chemical reaction in one area, the anode area, travel through a metallic path and are consumed through a different chemical reaction in another area, the cathode.
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