In high-strength aluminum alloys, stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) is known to occur in ordinary atmospheres and aqueous environments. This article discusses the mechanisms of SCC in aluminum alloys, providing information on two main types of SCC models: those of anodic dissolution based on electrochemical theory and those that involve the stress-sorption theory of mechanical fracture. It reviews three different categories of experiments used to compare SCC performance of candidate materials for service. The categories are tests on statically loaded smooth samples, tests on statically loaded precracked samples, and tests using slowly straining samples. The article describes SCC susceptibility and ratings of SCC resistance for high-strength wrought aluminum products, such as 2xxx, 5xxx, and 7xxx series alloys, aluminum-lithium alloys, and 7xxx alloys containing copper.

This article commences with a discussion on the characteristics of stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) and describes crack initiation and propagation during SCC. It reviews the various mechanisms of SCC and addresses electrochemical and stress-sorption theories. The article explains the SCC, which occurs due to welding, metalworking process, and stress concentration, including options for investigation and corrective measures. It describes the sources of stresses in service and the effect of composition and metal structure on the susceptibility of SCC. The article provides information on specific ions and substances, service environments, and preservice environments responsible for SCC. It details the analysis of SCC failures, which include on-site examination, sampling, observation of fracture surface characteristics, macroscopic examination, microscopic examination, chemical analysis, metallographic analysis, and simulated-service tests. It provides case studies for the analysis of SCC service failures and their occurrence in steels, stainless steels, and commercial alloys of aluminum, copper, magnesium, and titanium.

Chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) of metals is described as mechanically accelerated corrosion, erosion corrosion, or metallic corrosion enhanced by wear. This article reviews the history, process, chemistry, electrochemistry, and defect issues for CMP. It provides an overview of CMP through a schematic illustration of CMP process equipment. The applications of CMP to tungsten and copper alloys are of prime interest in the semiconductor industry. The article discusses copper CMP and tungsten CMP in detail and analyzes polishing mechanism during CMP by application of direct current potentiodynamic polarization and alternating current impedance measurements. It concludes with information on chemically induced defects such as pitting corrosion, galvanic corrosion, and chemical etching.

This article discusses four subsystems of the electrochemical machining (ECM) system: power source, electrolyte cleaning and supply system, tool and tool-feed system, and workpiece and workpiece-holding system. It describes the theory of ECM and provides information on the electrolytes used in ECM. The article reviews the methods associated with workpiece shape prediction. The procedures and integrated approach for the tool design in ECM are discussed. The article also explains the process control, capabilities, and the limitations of ECM. It concludes with information on the applications of ECM.

This article presents common conventions and definitions in corrosion, electrochemical cells, cathodic protection (CP), electricity, and oxidation. Evans diagrams for impressed current CP in neutral or basic environment and galvanic or sacrificial CP, in both neutral or basic environment and acidic environment, are illustrated.

Corrosion modeling is an essential benchmarking element for the selection and life prediction associated with the introduction of new materials or processes. These models are most naturally expressed in terms of differential equations or in other nonexplicit forms of mathematics. This article discusses the principles and applications of various models developed for understanding the corrosion mechanism. These models include mechanistic models, including Pourbaix model, thermophysical module, electrochemical module, and ion association model; risk-based models; and knowledge models. The risk-based model and knowledge models are illustrated with examples for better understanding. The article also describes boundary-element modeling and pitting corrosion fatigue models.

This article focuses on the different parameters that influence the pitting corrosion of passive metals. The parameters are environment, metal composition, potential, temperature, surface condition, alloy composition, stochastic nature of the processes, and inhibitors. In addition, the article provides a detailed discussion on the various stages of pitting. These include passive film breakdown, metastable pitting, pit growth, and pit stifling or death.

This article addresses electrochemical methods for instantaneous rate determination and threshold determination as well as nonelectrochemical methods that can determine incremental or cumulative rates of corrosion. Electrochemical methods for the study of galvanic corrosion rates and localized corrosion and evaluation of corrosion rates under paints are also discussed. The article describes nonelectrochemical methods that can determine incremental or cumulative rates of corrosion. Methods presented include polarization methods, polarization resistance methods, electrochemical impedance methods, frequency modulation methods, electrochemical noise resistance, potential probe methods, cyclic potentiodynamic polarization methods, potentiostatic and galvanostatic methods, electrochemical noise (EN) methods, scratch-repassivation method, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. Gravimetric determination of mass loss, electrical-resistance methods, magnetic methods, quartz crystal microbalance method, solution analysis methods, and metrological methods are nonelectrochemical methods. The article presents an electrochemical test that examines the susceptibility of stainless steel alloys to intergranular corrosion.

Pitting is a form of localized corrosion that is often a concern in applications involving passivating metals and alloys in aggressive environments. This article describes the test methods for pitting corrosion. These methods include ASTM G 48, ASTM F 746, ASTM G 61, ASTM G 100, and electrochemical noise measurements. The visual examination, metallographic examination, and nondestructive inspection of pits are discussed. The article reviews the procedures for the use of standard charts, metal penetration, statistical analysis, and loss in mechanical properties to quantify the severity of pitting damage.

Corrosion monitoring is important in the operation of modern industrial plants and in the use and maintenance of expensive assets such as bridges and aircrafts, because the damage caused by corrosion and the rate of the deterioration can be huge and the risks devastating. This article discusses the system considerations and installation techniques of different types of direct and indirect techniques in electrochemically based on-line corrosion monitoring process. It describes the importance of probe location and on-line corrosion monitoring techniques with examples.

Machining is a term that covers a large collection of manufacturing processes designed to remove unwanted material, usually in the form of chips, from a workpiece. This article discusses the basic classes of machining operations, including conventional, abrasive, and nontraditional, and outlines the type of costs incurred by the process. It describes the types of machining equipment, including general-purpose machine tools, production machining systems, and computer numerically controlled machining systems. The article lists the common classes of metallic work materials, in order of decreasing machinability. It also shows the range of dimensional and surface finish tolerances in graphical form that can be achieved using various machining processes under general machining conditions.

This article reviews the types of passivity and presents tactics that employ passivity to control corrosion. Thermodynamics provides a guide to the conditions under which passivation becomes possible. A valuable guide to thermodynamics is the potential-pH diagram and the Pourbaix diagram. The article presents a potential-pH diagram for the iron-water system and an illustration of an idealized anodic polarization curve for a metal surface, which serves as a basis for describing the kinetics of passivation. It discusses five properties of passive films: thickness, composition, structure, electronic properties, and mechanical properties. The article outlines three possible processes that can form passive films: direct film formation, dissolution precipitation, and anodic oxidation of metal ions in solution. It describes the breakdown of the passive film using various models and highlighting the effect of alloy composition and structure.

This article provides a background of the complex relationship between titanium and its alloys with aqueous environments, which is dictated by the presence of a passivating oxide film. It describes the corrosion vulnerability of titanium and titanium oxides by the classification of oxide failure mechanisms. The mechanisms are spatially localized oxide film breakdown by the ingress of aggressive anions; spatially local or homogenous chemical dissolution of the oxide in a strong reducing-acid environment; and mechanical disruptions or depassivation such as scratching, abrading, or fretting. Titanium alloys can be classified into three primary groups such as titanium alloys with hexagonal close-packed crystallographic structure; beta titanium alloys with body-centered cubic crystallographic structures; and alpha + beta titanium alloys including near-alpha and near-beta titanium alloys. The article also illustrates the effects of alloying on active anodic corrosion of titanium and repassivation behavior of titanium and titanium-base alloys.

This article reviews the fundamentals of electrochemical corrosion test methods. The features and requirements of the instrumentation needed for an electrochemical test are briefly discussed. The article provides a discussion on the various electrochemical techniques and tests available for laboratory studies of corrosion phenomena. The techniques and tests include no-applied-signal tests, small-signal polarization tests, large-signal polarization tests, scanning electrode techniques, and miscellaneous techniques.

This article presents a brief history and the uses of the anodic protection technique. It compares anodic and cathodic protection and describes the design considerations of the anodic protection system. The article discusses the specific requirements of equipment required for anodic protection. It also explains the applications and economic aspects of anodic protection, with examples.

This article illustrates the three techniques for producing glassy metals, namely, liquid phase quenching, atomic or molecular deposition, and external action technique. Devitrification of an amorphous alloy can proceed by several routes, including primary crystallization, eutectoid crystallization, and polymorphous crystallization. The article demonstrates a free-energy versus composition diagram that summarizes many of the devitrification routes. It provides a historical review of the corrosion behavior of fully amorphous and partially devitrified metallic glasses. The article describes the general corrosion behavior and localized corrosion behavior of transition metal-metal binary alloys, transition metal-metalloid alloys, and amorphous simple metal-transition metal-rare earth metal alloys. It concludes with a discussion on the environmentally induced fracture of glassy alloys, including hydrogen embrittlement and stress-corrosion cracking.

Corrosion of metallic materials is governed by electrochemical kinetics, so that the general concepts developed for studying electrochemical reaction mechanisms may be applied to corrosion. This article presents the fundamental aspects of electrode kinetics. The processes of charge transfer taking place at the electrode interface within the double layer and of mass transport at the vicinity of the electrode surface are discussed. The article describes the corrosion processes, which involve anodic and cathodic reactions at specific electrode sites. Some experimental methods for devising a reliable reaction model are detailed. The article explains some reaction mechanisms for cathodic and anodic processes to illustrate the great variety of reaction mechanisms occurring at the electrode interface.

Tribocorrosion is the subject dealing with complex, synergistic effects of chemical and mechanical conditions that cause wear. This article begins with a discussion on oxidative wear and corrosive wear, as well as quantitative measurements of corrosion, mechanical wear, and wear-corrosion effects. It illustrates the mechanism of corrosive-abrasive wear and discusses the factors affecting two-body wear. These factors include particle shape, size, density, and hardness; slurry velocity; slurry particle angle of attack; solids concentration in the slurry; hydrodynamic factors; corrosion products and the mass transfer of oxygen. The article describes slurry particle impingement tests and grinding tribocorrosion tests, as well as the factors to be considered for mitigating corrosive wear, such as materials selection, surface treatments, and environment modifications.