Corrosion Fundamentals

Forms of Corrosion

Corrosion Control

Sources of Additional Information

Fundamentals of Corrosion and Corrosion Control

	Corrosion of a Coated Handrail
	Corroded Rain Gutter
	Corrosion on the Nose of the Statue of Liberty

Corrosion can be defined as the degradation of a material due to a reaction with its environment.

Degradation implies deterioration of physical properties of the material. This can be a weakening of the material due to a loss of cross-sectional area, it can be the shattering of a metal due to hydrogen embrittlement, or it can be the cracking of a polymer due to sunlight exposure.

Materials can be metals, polymers (plastics, rubbers, etc.), ceramics (concrete, brick, etc.) or composites-mechanical mixtures of two or more materials with different properties. Because metals are the most used type of structural materials most of this web site will be devoted to the corrosion of metals.

Most corrosion of metals is electrochemical in nature. Click here for a brief introduction to electrochemistry.

Sources of additional information