Corrosion and its

Corrosion and its

control
control
Unit-2
Lecture-1
Dr.S. Velmathi
07-02-2014

Introduction to Corrosion
Lecture#01

Definition

Corrosion may be defined as the

destruction of a metal or an alloy
because of chemical or
electrochemical reaction with its
surrounding environment or medium

Some Corrosion
Failure Examples

Corrosion Doctors Website. Homepage: http://www.corrosion-doctors.org

Aloha Incident

Aloha Incident (Contd..)

Carlsbad Pipeline Explosion

Losses due to Corrosion

Uhlig, H.H. and R.W. Revie, Corrosion and Corrosion Control. 3rd ed. 1985, New York: John Wiley & Sons.
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Cost of Corrosion
Which cost more?
Corrosion
Fire
Flooding
Earthquake

Cost of Corrosion(2004) in billion

US$5
Country

Direct Cost

Indirect Cost

USA

303.76

200 (approximately)

Japan

59.02

Former USSR

55.01

Germany

49.26

UK

8.51

Australia

7.32

Belgium

6.75

India

3.78

Poland

3.53

Canada

3.38

.....
.....
.....

Bhaskaran, R., N. Palaniswamy, and N.S. Rengaswamy, Global Cost of CorrosionA Historical Review,
in Corrosion: Materials, Vol 13B, ASM Handbook. 2005, ASM International.
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SoWhy Study Corrosion?

Materials are precious resources
Engineering design is incomplete without
knowledge of corrosion
Applying knowledge of corrosion protection
can minimize disasters
Corrosion contaminate products such as
pharmaceutical, food and dairy products or
soap
Corrosion products threat to the environment
Artificial implants for the human body!!!
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Distribution of disciplines in which active

corrosion engineers have graduated

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So .. What would be expected from

You (a Corrosion Engineer)?
Ensuring maximum life of new equipment
Preservation of existing equipment
Protecting or improving the quality of a product in order
to maintain or improve a competitive position.
Avoiding costly interruptions of production.
Reducing or eliminating losses of valuable products by
spillage or leaks.
Refitting of equipment withdrawn from service because
of corrosion.
Reducing hazards to life and property that might be
associated with corrosion:
Explosions of pressure vessels or piping systems
release of poisonous or explosive gases or vapors
are a few examples.
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Definition of Corrosion

Corrosion is the deterioration of materials

by chemical interaction with their
environment. The term corrosion is
sometimes also applied to the degradation
of plastics, concrete and wood, but
generally refers to metals.

corrosion

The process of decay of metal by environmental

attack is called corrosion.
The basic reason for this attack is most of the metals
(except Pt, Au, Ag) exist in nature in the form of their
ores as oxides, chlorides, silicates, carbonates etc.,
Metals have the natural tendency to go back to their
combined states, as a result when metal is exposed
environmental conditions forms stable compounds
of metals, known as corrosion.
The process of corrosion is reverse of metal
extraction.

Oxidation: the loss of electrons by a species,

leading to an increase in oxidation number of one

or more atoms. loss of electron(s) by a species;
increase in oxidation number; increase in oxygen.
Reduction: the gain of electrons by a species,
leading to an decrease in oxidation number of one
or more atoms. Gain of electron(s); decrease in
oxidation number; decrease in oxygen; increase in
hydrogen.
Oxidizing agents: the species that is reduced in a
redox reaction (or)Electron acceptor;

Anodic & Cathodic Reactions

Corrosion
oxidation of metal

Oxidation of most metals by oxygen

is spontaneous redox reactions
Many metals develop thin coating of
metal oxide on outside that
prevents further oxidation
Some metals, such as copper, gold,
silver and platinum (noble metals),
are relatively difficult to oxidize

Rusting of Iron

Anodic regions

Regions of steel alloy where iron is more

easily oxidized

Fe Fe2+ + 2eCathodic regions

Areas resistant to oxidation

Electrons flow from anodic regions & react
w/oxygen
O2 + 2H2O + 4e- 4OH
Presence of water essential to iron corrosion
Presence of salt accelerates corrosion by increasing
electron conduction from anodic to cathodic regions

2/12/15

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2/12/15

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Effects of the corrosion process

1. The valuable metallic properties like conductivity ,
malleability , ductility etc., are lost due to corrosion.
2. The process of corrosion is very harmful and is
responsible for the enormous wastage of metal in the
form of its compounds.
3. Life span on the metallic parts of the machineries is
reduced.
4. The failure of machinery takes place due to lose of
useful properties of metals.

CHEMICAL (OR)DRY CORROSION

THE DIRECT CHEMICAL ATTACK OF THE
ATMOSPHERIC GASES LIKE O2, HALOGENS, H2S,
SO2 ,ANHYDROUS INORGANIC LIQUID METALS
ON METAL SURFACES IN THE ABSENCE OF
MOISTURE.
1.OXIDATION CORROSION: DIRECT ACTION OF
OXYGEN AT HIGH(OR)LOW TEMPARETURES
ON METAL SURFACE.
2.CORROSION BY OTHER GASES: ATTACK OF
GASES LIKE SO2,CO2,Cl2,H2S,F etc ON
METAL SURFACE.
3.LIQUID METAL CORROSION: ATTACK OF

OXIDATION CORROSION
2M
O2
Total
reaction

Atmospheric O2

2 e-

O2
2M
M2+

2 M2+ 2 e- (Oxidation by loss of

2 O2-electrons)
(Reduction by gain of electrons)
2

2
O2-

2 MO

If the formed metal oxide is stable further corrosion

of metal is prevented by the formed metal oxide.

If the formed metal oxide is unstable corrosion

is not occur.

If the formed metal oxide is volatile ,fresh metal

surface is rapidly exposed and converted into metal
oxide and evaporated.

If the formed metal oxide layer is porous , under lying

metal is attacked and converted in to metal oxide. the
total metal is converted into metal oxide form.

Pilling-Bedworth rule - Describes the type of oxide

film/layer that forms on a metal surface during
oxidation.

specific ratio= volume of metal

oxide/volume of metal
Three types of oxides
may form, depending on
the volume ratio
between the metal and
the oxide:
(a) magnesium produces
a porous oxide film,
b) aluminum forms a
protective, adherent,
nonporous oxide film,
and

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(c) iron forms an oxide

film that spills off the

Corrosion by other gases

The gases such as SO2, CO2, H2S, Cl2,F2 etc., when

come in direct contact with metal surface corrosion
is occurs.
The extent of corrosion depends on the chemical
affinity between the metal and the gas concerned.
The prevention of metal corrosion can be known
from the nature of corrosion product ., i.e.
whether the layer of corrosion product is
protecting or non protecting in nature.

1.If the formed corrosion product is protecting (or)

non porous, metal is prevented.
Ex: AgCl layer on metallic silver by the action of
Cl2 gas.
2. If the formed corrosion product is non protecting
(or) porous , the corrosion of metals occurs non
stop.
Ex: H2S gas attacks on steel at high
temperature forming FeS , a corrosion product
which is porous.

Liquid metal corrosion

The chemical action of the flowing liquid metal at high temperature ,
on a solid metal or alloy produces liquid metal corrosion.
There are two reasons for this corrosion
1. Dissolution of the solid metal by liquid metal
2. Internal penetration of the liquid metal into the solid phase,
weakening the solid metal.
Ex: liquid Na or liquid Nitrogen used as a coolant in a nuclear plants,
these causes cadmium corrosion.