Definitions
Corrosion: The chemical or electrochemical reaction between a material, usually a metal, and its environment that produces a deterioration of the material and its properties.
Rust: A visible corrosion product consisting of hydrated oxides of iron. Applied only to ferrous alloys
Basics
Corrosion is the breakdown of materials due to reactions within its area. It is the loss of water and air molecules. Corrosion also occurs when an acidic or basic material touches another material. When a material corrodes, it changes it and becomes weaker. Materials that corrode include iron, copper, plastic, skin cells and wood.
One form of high temperature corrosion can lead to the formation of compacted oxide layer glazes, which under certain circumstances reduces wear.
Iron corrosion is called rusting.
Rust is a type of corrosion. Rust is the slow breaking of metals, due to air or water coming into contact with them. Most all metals rust, but some metals are protected by a thin paint. Metals such as stainless steel, rust much slower than iron. When a piece of metal rusts, it changes to a different color, (ex. iron turns red) and the metal falls apart. Rust appears on metal if it is left outside in the damp air. For example rust occures mostly in cracks, or where two parts meet on metal. If it rains the water will enter the cracks and make it easier to rust because it would be hard to remove the water from the cracks. So since the water stays in the cracks, the metal starts to corrode. Which at the end it turns into rust.
Rust can also be any of various basidiomycete fungi that are parasitic on plants and produce reddish or brownish spots on leaves.
Topics of Interest
Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen. Formation of an oxide of iron due to oxidation of the iron atoms in solid solution is a well-known example of electrochemical corrosion, commonly known as rusting. This type of damage typically produces oxide(s) and/or salt(s) of the original metal. Corrosion can also refer to other materials than metals, such as ceramics or polymers, although in this context, the term degradation is more common. In other words, corrosion is the wearing away of metals due to a chemical reaction.
Galvanic corrosion is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes preferentially when in electrical contact with a different type of metal and both metals are immersed in an electrolyte. Conversely, a galvanic reaction is exploited in primary batteries to generate a voltage. A common example is the carbon-zinc cell where the zinc corrodes preferentially to produce a current. The lemon battery is another simple example of how dissimilar metals react to produce an electric current.
The galvanic series (or electropotential series) determines the nobility of metals and semi-metals. When two metals are submerged in an electrolyte, while electrically connected, the less noble (base) will experience galvanic corrosion. The rate of corrosion is determined by the electrolyte and the difference in nobility. The difference can be measured as a difference in voltage potential. Galvanic reaction is the principle upon which batteries are based.
Resistance to corrosion: Some metals are more intrinsically resistant to corrosion than others, either due to the fundamental nature of the electrochemical processes involved or due to the details of how reaction products form. For some examples, see galvanic series. If a more susceptible material is used, many techniques can be applied during an item's manufacture and use to protect its materials from damage.
Passivation is the process of making a material "passive" in relation to another material prior to using the materials together. For example, prior to storing hydrogen peroxide in an aluminium container, the container can be passivated by rinsing it with a dilute solution of nitric acid and peroxide alternating with deionized water. The nitric acid and peroxide oxidizes and dissolves any impurities on the inner surface of the container, and the deionized water rinses away the acid and oxidized impurities. Another typical passivation process of cleaning stainless steel tanks involves cleaning with sodium hydroxide and citric acid followed by nitric acid (up to 20% at 120 °F) and a complete water rinse. This process will restore the film, remove metal particles, dirt, and welding-generated compounds (e.g. oxides).
In the context of corrosion, passivation is the spontaneous formation of a hard non-reactive surface film that inhibits further corrosion. This layer is usually an oxide or nitride that is a few atoms thick.
Pitting corrosion, or pitting, is a form of extremely localized corrosion that leads to the creation of small holes in the metal. The driving power for pitting corrosion is the lack of oxygen around a small area. This area becomes anodic while the area with excess of oxygen becomes cathodic, leading to very localized galvanic corrosion. The corrosion penetrates the mass of the metal, with limited diffusion of ions, further pronouncing the localized lack of oxygen. The mechanism of pitting corrosion is probably the same as crevice corrosion.
Intergranular corrosion (IGC), also termed intergranular attack (IGA), is a form of corrosion where the boundaries of crystallites of the material are more susceptible to corrosion than their insides. (Cf. transgranular corrosion.)
Microbial corrosion, or bacterial corrosion, is a corrosion caused or promoted by microorganisms, usually chemoautotrophs. It can apply to both metals and non-metallic materials, in both the presence and lack of oxygen. Sulfate-reducing bacteria are common in lack of oxygen; they produce hydrogen sulfide, causing sulfide stress cracking. In presence of oxygen, some bacteria directly oxidize iron to iron oxides and hydroxides, other bacteria oxidize sulfur and produce sulfuric acid causing biogenic sulfide corrosion. Concentration cells can form in the deposits of corrosion products, causing and enhancing galvanic corrosion.
High temperature corrosion is chemical deterioration of a material (typically a metal) under very high temperature conditions. This non-galvanic form of corrosion can occur when a metal is subject to a high temperature atmosphere containing oxygen, sulfur or other compounds capable of oxidising (or assisting the oxidation of) the material concerned. For example, materials used in aerospace, power generation and even in car engines have to resist sustained periods at high temperature in which they may be exposed to an atmosphere containing potentially highly corrosive products of combustion.
Galvanization or galvanisation refers to any of several electrochemical processes named after the Italian scientist Luigi Galvani. In current use, the term "galvanization" typically refers to hot-dip galvanizing, a metallurgical process that is used to coat steel or iron with zinc. This is done to prevent galvanic corrosion (specifically rusting) of the ferrous item; while it is accomplished by non-electrochemical means, it serves an electrochemical purpose.
Anodizing, or anodising in British English, is an electrolytic passivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts. The process is called "anodizing" because the part to be treated forms the anode electrode of an electrical circuit. Anodizing increases corrosion resistance and wear resistance, and provides better adhesion for paint primers and glues than bare metal.
Cathodic protection (CP) is a technique to control the corrosion of a metal surface by making it work as a cathode of an electrochemical cell. This is achieved by placing in contact with the metal to be protected another more easily corroded metal to act as the anode of the electrochemical cell. Cathodic protection systems are most commonly used to protect steel, water or fuel pipelines and storage tanks, steel pier piles, ships, offshore oil platforms and onshore oil well casings. Cathodic protection can be, in some cases, an effective method of preventing stress corrosion cracking.
Economic impact: The US Federal Highway Administration released a study, entitled Corrosion Costs and Preventive Strategies in the United States, in 2002 on the direct costs associated with metallic corrosion in nearly every U.S. industry sector. The study showed that for 1998 the total annual estimated direct cost of corrosion in the U.S. was approximately $276 billion (approximately 3.1% of the US gross domestic product). FHWA Report Number:FHWA-RD-01-156. The NACE International website has a summary slideshow of the report findings. Jones1 writes that electrochemical corrosion causes between $8 billion and $128 billion in economic damage per year in the United States alone, degrading structures, machines, and containers.
Rust is one of the most common causes of bridge accidents for example. As rust has a much higher volume than the originating mass of iron, its build-up can also cause failure by forcing apart adjacent parts. It was the cause of the collapse of the Mianus river bridge in 1983, when the bearings rusted internally and pushed one corner of the road slab off its support. Three drivers on the roadway at the time died as the slab fell into the river below. The following NTSB investigation showed that a drain in the road had been blocked for road re-surfacing, and had not been unblocked so that runoff water penetrated the support hangers. It was also difficult for maintenance engineers to see the bearings from the inspection walkway. Rust was also an important factor in the Silver Bridge disaster of 1967 in West Virginia, when a steel suspension bridge collapsed in less than a minute, killing 46 drivers and passengers on the bridge at the time.
Corrosion in nonmetals: Most ceramic materials are almost entirely immune to corrosion. The strong ionic and/or covalent bonds that hold them together leave very little free chemical energy in the structure; they can be thought of as already corroded. When corrosion does occur, it is almost always a simple dissolution of the material or chemical reaction, rather than an electrochemical process. A common example of corrosion protection in ceramics is the lime added to soda-lime glass to reduce its solubility in water; though it is not nearly as soluble as pure sodium silicate, normal glass does form sub-microscopic flaws when exposed to moisture. Due to its brittleness, such flaws cause a dramatic reduction in the strength of a glass object during its first few hours at room temperature.
Corrosion of glasses: The corrosion of silicate glasses in aqueous solutions is governed by two mechanisms: diffusion-controlled leaching (ion exchange) and glass network hydrolytic dissolution. Both corrosion mechanisms strongly depend on the pH of contacting solution.
Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides, usually red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture. Several forms of rust are distinguishable visually and by spectroscopy, and form under different circumstances. Rust consists of hydrated iron(III) oxides Fe2O3·nH2O and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH), Fe(OH)3). Rusting is the common term for corrosion of iron and its alloys, such as steel. Other metals undergo equivalent corrosion, but the resulting oxides are not commonly called rust. Given sufficient time, oxygen, and water, any iron mass eventually converts entirely to rust and disintegrates.
The oxidation of iron metal: When in contact with water and oxygen, or other strong oxidants and/or acids, iron will rust. If salt is present as, for example, in salt water, it tends to rust more quickly, as a result of the electro-chemical reactions. Iron metal is relatively unaffected by pure water or by dry oxygen. As with other metals, a tightly adhering oxide coating, a passivation layer, protects the bulk iron from further oxidation. Thus, the conversion of the passivating iron oxide layer to rust results from the combined action of two agents, usually oxygen and water. Other degrading solutions are sulfur dioxide in water and carbon dioxide in water. Under these corrosive conditions, iron(III) species are formed. Unlike iron(II) oxides, iron(III) oxides are not passivating because these materials do not adhere to the bulk metal. As these iron(III) compounds form and flake off from the surface, fresh iron is exposed, and the corrosion process continues until all of the iron(0) is either consumed or all of the oxygen, water, carbon dioxide, or sulfur dioxide in the system are removed or consumed.
Water cleaning: Nanoparticles of rust have been shown to be effective at cheaply removing arsenic from water sources to help make them safe to drink.
Rustproofing is the process whereby the rate at which objects made of iron and/or steel begin to rust is reduced. (In the long term it cannot be stopped unless the rustproofing is periodically renewed.) The term is particularly used for the automobile industry.
An important approach to rust prevention entails galvanization, which typically consists of an application, on the object to be protected, of a layer of zinc by either hot-dip galvanizing or electroplating. Zinc is traditionally used because it is cheap, adheres well to steel and provides a cathodic protection to the steel surface in case of damage of the Zinc layer. In more corrosive environments (such as salt water) cadmium is preferred. Galvanization often fails at seams, holes, and joints, where the coating is pierced. In these cases the coating provides cathodic protection to metal, where it acts as a galvanic anode rusting in preference. More modern coatings add aluminium to the coating as zinc-alume, aluminium will migrate to cover scratches and thus provide protection for longer. These approaches rely on the aluminium and zinc oxides protecting the once-scratched surface rather than oxidizing as a sacrificial anode. In some cases, very aggressive environments or long design life, both zinc and a coating are applied to provide corrosion protection.
Cathodic protection is a technique used to inhibit corrosion on buried or immersed structures.
Painting: Rust formation can be controlled with coatings, such as paint, that isolate the iron from the environment. Large structures with enclosed box sections, such as ships and modern automobiles, often have a wax-based product (technically a "slushing oil") injected into these sections. Such treatments also contain rust inhibitors. Covering steel with concrete provides protection to steel by the high pH environment at the steel-concrete interface.
Dehumidity: Another method to avoid rust is to control the environment. Controlling the humidity, if possible, below a certain thereshold can reduce or stop the corrosion process.
A simple and inexpensive way to remove rust from steel surfaces by hand is to rub the steel with aluminium foil dipped in water. Aluminium has a higher reduction potential than the iron in steel, which may help transfer oxygen atoms from the iron to the aluminium. The aluminium foil is softer than steel and will not scratch it, as steel wool will, but as the aluminium oxidizes, the aluminium oxide produced becomes a fine metal polishing compound.
Rust is associated with degradation of iron-based tools and structures. As rust has a much higher volume than the originating mass of iron, its build-up can also cause failure by forcing apart adjacent parts — a phenomenon sometimes known as "rust smacking". It was the cause of the collapse of the Mianus river bridge in 1983, when the bearings rusted internally and pushed one corner of the road slab off its support. Rust was also an important factor in the Silver Bridge disaster of 1967 in West Virginia, when a steel suspension bridge collapsed in less than a minute, killing 46 drivers and passengers on the bridge at the time.
Kinzua Bridge in Pennsylvania was blown down by a tornado in 2003 largely because the central base bolts holding the structure to the ground had rusted away, leaving the bridge resting by gravity alone.
Similarly corrosion of concrete-covered steel and iron can cause the concrete to spall, creating severe structural problems. It is one of the most common failure modes of reinforced concrete bridges.
Source: Wikipedia (All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.)
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