Corrosion engineering is an engineering specialty that applies scientific, technical, engineering skills, and knowledge of natural laws and physical resources to design and implement materials, structures, devices, systems, and procedures to manage corrosion. From a holistic perspective, corrosion is the phenomenon of metals returning to the state they are found in nature. The driving force that causes metals to corrode is a consequence of their temporary existence in metallic form. To produce metals starting from naturally occurring minerals and ores, it is necessary to provide a certain amount of energy, e.g. Iron ore in a blast furnace. It is therefore thermodynamically inevitable that these metals when exposed to various environments would revert to their state found in nature. Corrosion and corrosion engineering thus involves a study of chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, electrochemistry and materials science.
General background
Generally related to metallurgy or materials science, corrosion engineering also relates to non-metallics including ceramics, cement, composite material, and conductive materials such as carbon and graphite. Corrosion engineers often manage other not-strictly-corrosion processes including (but not restricted to) cracking, brittle fracture, crazing, fretting, erosion, and more typically categorized as Infrastructure asset management. In the 1990s, Imperial College London even offered a Master of Science degree entitled "The Corrosion of Engineering Materials". UMIST – University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and now part of the University of Manchester also offered a similar course. Corrosion Engineering master's degree courses are available worldwide and the curricula contain study material about the control and understanding of corrosion. Ohio State University has a corrosion center named after one of the more well known corrosion engineers Mars G Fontana.
Corrosion costs
In the year 1995, it was reported that the costs of corrosion nationwide in the USA were nearly $300 billion per year. This confirmed earlier reports of damage to the world economy caused by corrosion.
Zaki Ahmad, in his book Principles of corrosion engineering and corrosion control, states that "Corrosion engineering is the application of the principles evolved from corrosion science to minimize or prevent corrosion". Shreir et al. suggest likewise in their large, two volume work entitled Corrosion. Corrosion engineering involves designing of corrosion prevention schemes and implementation of specific codes and practices. Corrosion prevention measures, including Cathodic protection, designing to prevent corrosion and coating of structures fall within the regime of corrosion engineering. However, corrosion science and engineering go hand-in-hand and they cannot be separated: it is a permanent marriage to produce new and better methods of protection from time to time. This may include the use of Corrosion inhibitors. In the Handbook of corrosion engineering, the author Pierre R. Roberge states "Corrosion is the destructive attack of a material by reaction with its environment. The serious consequences of the corrosion process have become a problem of worldwide significance."
Costs are not only monetary. There is a financial cost and also a waste of natural resources. In 1988 it was estimated that one tonne of metal was converted completely to rust every ninety seconds in the United Kingdom. There is also the cost of human lives. Failure whether catastrophic or otherwise due to corrosion has cost human lives.
Corrosion engineering and corrosion societies and associations
Corrosion engineering groups have formed around the world to educate, prevent, slow, and manage corrosion. These include the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE), the European Federation of Corrosion (EFC), The Institute of Corrosion in the UK and the Australasian Corrosion Association. The corrosion engineer's main task is to economically and safely manage the effects of corrosion of materials.
Notable contributors to the field
Some of the most notable contributors to the Corrosion Engineering discipline include among others:
Michael Faraday (1791–1867) Marcel Pourbaix (1904–1998) Herbert H. Uhlig (1907–1993) Ulick Richardson Evans (1889–1980) Mars Guy Fontana (1910–1988) Melvin Romanoff ( -1970)