This article discusses the elements necessary for a galvanic cell operation. Detailed information on the possible corrosion reaction as a function of aqueous electrolyte concentration and pH, in the presence of certain ions, are provided using Pourbaix diagrams. A variety of atmospheric factors, climatic conditions, and air-chemical pollutants that determine the corrosiveness of the atmosphere and contribute to the metal corrosion process are discussed. The article reviews the phenomenon of precipitation runoff on the corroded metal surface and the corrosive microbial effect on metals. It describes the thermodynamics of atmospheric corrosion and models for predicting the corrosion damage of metals. The article concludes with information on the various trends in atmospheric corrosion research and methods for the corrosion processes.

Spark source mass spectrometry (SSMS) is an analytical technique used for determining the concentration of elements in a wide range of solid samples, including metals, semiconductors, ceramics, geological and biological materials, and air and water pollution samples. This article discusses the basic principles of spark source technique; SSMS instrumentation such as ion source, electric sector, and magnetic sector; sample preparation; and test procedures of SSMS. Some of the related techniques to SSMS are laser ionization mass spectrometry and laser-induced resonance ionization mass spectrometry. The ions produced in SSMS are detected by either the photometric method or electrical detection method and quantitatively measured by techniques such as internal standardization techniques, isotope dilution, multi element isotope dilution, and dry spike isotope dilution. The detected spark source spectrum contains all the elemental data of the tested sample. Finally, the article exemplifies the applications of SSMS.

This article discusses the general properties of ocean water and their effects on corrosion. It describes the major and minor features of the ocean water on corrosion, including the effects of variability, pollutants, and fouling organisms. Effects of water flow velocity on marine corrosion are also reviewed.

The corrosion processes of metals during burial are affected by environmental pollutants, other archaeological material, geography, microorganisms in the soil, vegetation, land use, soil chemistry, soil physical properties, and the presence or absence of water and air. This article discusses the key environmental variables that affect the corrosion of buried metal artifacts. These include water (including dissolved salts and gases), sulfate-reducing bacteria, pH (acidity), and potential (oxidizing or reducing capacity). The article contains tables that list some corrosion products identified on archaeological tin and pewter, lead, iron alloys, silver alloys, and copper alloys. It also discusses the corrosion problems after excavation and the techniques followed by archaeological department for conserving metal artifacts.

This article presents a general survey of corrosive agents and processes that exist within what are usually considered the protective environments of museums and historic collections. It reviews the corrosion influencing factors, such as humidity, temperature, and light. The article provides a list of pollutants and their sources in museums and collections. It discusses the sources of corrosion, including plastic and wood, sulfur, and carbonyl compounds. The article describes the preservation steps for materials in museum to eliminate the corrosive sources acting on the objects and to avoid other potentially damaging materials.

This article describes the various environmental factors that cause corrosion on metal artifacts, which include water, temperature fluctuations, pollutants, local conditions of acidity or alkalinity, vegetation, and animals. The corrosion processes experienced by five common metals, such as copper alloys, iron alloys, lead, zinc, and aluminum, used in outdoor artifacts are discussed. Finally, the article reviews conservation and preservation strategies for these five as well as gilded metals.

In a typical semiconductor integrated circuits (SICs) component, corrosion may be observed at the chip level and at the termination area of the lead frames that are plated with a solderable metal or alloy, such as tin and tin-lead alloys that are susceptible to corrosion. This article focuses on the key factors contributing to corrosion of electronic components, namely, chemicals (salts containing halides, sulfides, acids, and alkalis), temperature, air (polluted air), moisture, contact between dissimilar metals in a wet condition, applied potential differences, and stress. It discusses the chip corrosion and oxidation of tin and tin-lead alloys (solders) in SIC. The article also addresses the corrosion of the device terminations resulting in lead (termination) tarnishing that are caused by various factors, including galvanic corrosion, chemical residues, base metal migration and plating additives.

This article begins with a discussion on the components and importance of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) technology used in power plant for pollution control. It further discusses the corrosion problems encountered in different operating zones of FGD system and the major forms of corrosive attack encountered in those zones, including crevice corrosion, pitting corrosion, and acid attack. The article concludes with information on the materials selection and design features for minimizing the possibility of corrosion.

This article describes high-performance liquid chromatography and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography that are used to separate and quantify the chemical components in any sample that can be dissolved in a liquid. This includes pharmaceutical drugs, medicinal plant extracts, food constituents, flavors, fragrances, industrial chemicals, pesticides, and pollutants. Readers are introduced to the most commonly employed mode, reverse-phase chromatography, with examples and an exclusive focus on commercially available instruments and consumables. The discussion covers the various processes involved in liquid chromatography, including assessing a separation of sample components, adjusting the mobile phase, choosing the stationary phase, optimizing a separation, preparing real samples, and analyzing complex samples.

This article describes selected U.S. environmental statutes and regulations that are pertinent to material surface finishers. It provides information on the applicability, requirements, and permitting conditions of the Clean Air Act, the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, and the Clean Water Act.

Simulated service testing is the most reliable predictor of corrosion behavior that is important for specific objectives. These include materials selection, predicting the probable service life of a product or structure, evaluating new commercial alloys and processes, and calibrating laboratory corrosion tests in short of in-plant tests and actual service experience. This article provides a detailed discussion on the types of atmospheres used in simulated service testing. It describes the specifics of atmospheric-corrosion test that include equipment, test arrangement, and test specimen; factors affecting atmospheric corrosion; and evaluation of exposed atmospheric-corrosion panels. The article concludes with a discussion on the empirical model used for analyzing the atmospheric-corrosion measurements for estimating the service life of the part being evaluated.

Environmental and worker health regulations have increased the costs associated with cadmium coating application and cadmium-beating waste disposal, thus creating economic incentives for industrial users to seek cadmium plating replacements. This article presents a cadmium replacement identification matrix that includes information on the specifications, corrosion control performance, environment-assisted cracking, coating lubricity, environmental and worker health regulations, and cost and performance factors for various replacement processes.

Corrosion problems and materials selection for emissions control equipment can be difficult because of varied corrosive compounds present and the severe environments encountered. This article discusses the selection of materials for construction of flue gas desulfurization systems. It addresses the problems associated with materials for incinerator off-gas treatment equipment. The off-gases can be classified according to their corrosiveness as: industrial chemical, hospital, municipal solid, and sewage sludge. The article provides information on the selection of materials for the three most common types of dust collection equipment used in bulk solids processing, namely, fabric filters, electrostatic precipitators, and wet scrubbers. It also discusses a wide variety of corrosion problems encountered in chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

This article discusses Allenby's two streams for environmental aspects of design: generic and specific concerns. Generic concerns include guidelines that provide the structure in which specific techniques can be developed and used. Specific methods are environmentally responsible for design and specific information that engineers can use. These methods include life cycle assessment, environmental impact assessment, quality function deployment, design for “X”, failure modes and effects analysis, and design for disassembly.

Wipe solvents are used to remove contaminants from a workpiece before it undergoes manufacturing operations that require clean surfaces, such as bonding, sealing, painting, welding, plating, specialized surface treatment procedures, and others. This article describes the evaluation parameters for wipe solvent cleaners, including methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethylene, acetone, toluene, dichloromethane, benzene, xylene, and other alternate wipe solvent cleaners. It contains a table that lists the compositions and properties of wipe solvent cleaners.

This article presents a background of green chemistry and green coatings, and a summary of the key concerns of the green coating procurement process. It includes a discussion on green marketing and the seven sins of greenwashing, an overview of the environmental certification standards and regulatory environments, and the importance of performance during the duty cycle.

This article discusses the generic situation of steel reacting with the environments found in structures. Two environments are specifically discussed: atmospheric and cementitious. The article describes the utility of different corrosion protection methods for atmospheric corrosion and cementitious systems. It presents examples of problems that have arisen in the corrosion performance of steel.

This article provides information on various forms of corrosion that occur in electronic packaging. Portable consumer electronic hardware which is subjected to humidity exposures is prone to condensed moisture and liquid damage. The article discusses two other corrosion-related phenomena that are found only in electronics, namely, electrochemical migration (ECM) and conductive anodic filament formation (CAF). It describes the corrosion that takes place in metals such as copper, tin, and tin-lead alloys, which are commonly used in electronic packaging. The article also discusses the corrosion of the components used in electronic assemblies.

This article discusses coating products available for use in the aerospace industry that are compliant with regulations requiring reductions in emissions from organic solvents. The coating products addressed include primers, topcoats, and chemical milling maskants. It describes their characteristics and limitations compared to conventional noncompliant materials. The article addresses the methods and products commonly used achieve regulatory compliance: waterborne coatings, exempt-solvent-based coatings, high-solids coatings, powder coating, and electro-deposition.

This article discusses the environmental factors and kinetics of atmospheric corrosion, aqueous corrosion, and soil corrosion of carbon steels. It also provides information on corrosion in concrete and steel boilers.