Corrosive environments can be broadly classified as atmospheric, underground/soil, water, acidic, alkaline, and combinations of these. Complicating matters is the fact that there are important variables, for example, pH, temperature, and the presence of biological organisms, that can significantly alter the response of the material in a given environment. This chapter provides a detailed account of all these types of corrosion affecting various industries, pointing out the connection between the characteristics of the corrosive environment that control corrosion behavior, the corrosion characteristics of various metals and materials systems, and the subsequent corrosion response.

Corrosion can be defined as a chemical or electrochemical reaction between a material and its environment that causes the material and its properties to degrade. In most cases, it refers to the electrochemical oxidation of metals accompanied by the production of oxides or salts of the base material. This chapter discusses the process of corrosion and how to prevent or mitigate its effects. It describes several forms of corrosion, including uniform, intergranular, pitting, crevice, and stray-current corrosion, and the effects of stress-corrosion cracking, corrosion fatigue, and selective leaching. It discusses the use of corrosion inhibitors, cathodic and anodic protection, pH control, and Pourbaix diagrams.

This chapter discusses the most common causes and contributing factors for external corrosion and stress-corrosion cracking on oil and natural gas pipelines, as well as describes procedures for prevention, mitigation, detection, assessment, and repair. The forms of external corrosion covered include differential cell corrosion, microbiologically influenced corrosion, and stray current corrosion.

This article provides a review of the biodegradation mechanisms of plastics, presents the definitions, and describes the means of measurement of biodegradation and biodeterioration. Various experimental examples of microbial degradation, namely fungal attack in cellophane and amylose films, starch-based polyethylene films, films with modified starch additives, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-valerate)-biodegradable plastic, and biodisintegration and biodegradation studies of plastic-starch blends, are also presented.

This article describes in detail the process of corrosion control by cathodic and anodic protection. The discussion covers the basic concept of cathodic and anodic protection systems, their types and equipment used, and the advantages, limitations, and applications of these protection systems. The types of cathodic protection systems include sacrificial cathodic protection and impressed-current cathodic protection systems. Some of the technical problems associated with cathodic protection include the effects of stray currents on the corrosion of adjacent metal structures, the effects of the chemical reactions occurring at the surface of the protected structure, and the effects of cathodic protection on coatings.

This chapter provides a detailed account of cathodic protection. It begins by discussing the fundamentals of cathodic protection followed by a description of the various types of cathodic protection. It then describes the origins, types, and alleged failures of cathodic protection criteria. This is followed by a section providing information on anode materials that are used for cathodic protection applications. General guidelines for designing the cathodic protection systems are also listed. Finally, the chapter presents various examples on cathodic protection of steel structures. The examples are selected to familiarize the design engineer with the steps to follow in selecting a specific corrosion-control method.

This chapter discusses the basic principles of corrosion, explaining how and why it occurs and how it is categorized and dealt with based on the appearance of corrosion damage or the mechanism of attack. It explains where different forms of corrosion are likely to occur and identifies metals likely to be affected. It also discusses the selection and use of protective coatings and the tests that have been developed to measure their effectiveness.

This chapter discusses three related corrosion mechanisms, galvanic, deposition, and stray-current corrosion, explaining why they occur and how they affect the corrosion process. It includes information on testing and prevention methods along with examples of the type of damage associated with these corrosion mechanisms.

This chapter focuses on the effects of microscopic organisms and the by-products they produce on the electrochemical corrosion of metals. It begins by considering the characteristics of organisms that allow them to interact with the corrosion processes, the mechanisms by which organisms can influence the occurrence or rate of corrosion, and the types of corrosion most often influenced by microbes. The chapter then discusses the formation of biofilms on the surface of metals. This is followed by a list of industries most often reported as being affected by microbiological corrosion, along with the organisms usually implicated in the attack. The types of attack that have most commonly been documented are illustrated through generalized case histories for different classes of alloys. The chapter also describes the general approaches to be taken to prevent microbiologically influenced corrosion. It ends with some information on the inhibition of corrosion by the action of bacteria.

This chapter covers common types of erosion, including droplet, slurry, cavitation, liquid impingement, gas flow, and solid particle erosion, and major types of wear, including abrasive, adhesive, lubricated, rolling, and impact wear. It also covers special cases such as galling, fretting, scuffing, and spalling and introduces the concepts of tribocorrosion and biotribology.

Corrosion testing and monitoring are powerful tools in the fight to control corrosion. This chapter provides a general overview of three major categories of corrosion tests, namely laboratory tests, pilot-plant tests, and field tests. It begins with brief sections describing the purposes of corrosion tests, the logical steps in a test program, and the preparation and cleaning of test specimens. The focus then moves on to discuss the types and applications of these test categories and the associated evaluation procedures. Excluding electrochemical tests which are addressed separately in this chapter, the other laboratory tests covered under this category are simulated atmosphere tests, salt-spray tests, and immersion tests. Only corrosion testing in the atmosphere is discussed in the section on field tests. Corrosion monitoring techniques are finally considered, covering the characteristics of corrosion monitoring techniques, the factors to be considered in selecting a corrosion-monitoring method, and the strategies in corrosion monitoring.

Aluminum products are used extensively in natural atmospheres and in and around water. They are also widely used in building materials and as containers for chemicals and food and beverage products. This chapter discusses the corrosion mechanisms associated with these environments and the influence of various factors and prevention methods. It also includes an extensive amount of data of corrosion rates, corrosion resistance, and changes in mechanical properties.

This appendix is a comprehensive collection of selected sources related to corrosion properties of materials and corrosion testing.

Superalloys are susceptible to damage from a variety of surface contaminants. They may also require special surface finishes for subsequent processing steps such as coating applications. This chapter describes some of the cleaning and finishing procedures that have been developed for superalloys and how they work. It discusses the effect of metallic contaminants, tarnish, oxide, and scale and how they can be detected and removed. It also discusses chemical and mechanical surface finishing techniques and where they are used, and presents several application examples.

This chapter first covers some basic principles of electrochemical corrosion and then some of the various types of corrosion. Some of the more common types of corrosion discussed include uniform corrosion, galvanic corrosion, pitting, crevice corrosion, erosion-corrosion, cavitation, fretting corrosion, intergranular corrosion, exfoliation, dealloying corrosion, stress-corrosion cracking, and corrosion fatigue. The chapter discusses the processes involved in corrosion control by retarding either the anodic or cathodic reactions. The rate of corrosion is reduced by conditioning of the metal, by conditioning the environment, and by electrochemical control. Finally, the chapter deals with high-temperature oxidation that usually occurs in the absence of moisture.

This chapter discusses common forms of corrosion, including uniform corrosion, galvanic corrosion, pitting, crevice corrosion, dealloying corrosion, intergranular corrosion, and exfoliation. It describes the factors that contribute to stress-corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement, and corrosion fatigue and compares and contrasts their effects on mechanical properties, performance, and operating life. It also includes information on high-temperature oxidation and corrosion prevention techniques.

This chapter is a detailed account of the general characteristics and effects of and the methods for preventing or reducing different categories of wear failures, namely abrasive (erosive, grinding, and gouging), adhesive, and fretting wear.

All materials are susceptible to corrosion or some form of environmental degradation. Although no single material is suitable for all applications, usually there are a variety of materials that will perform satisfactorily in a given environment. The intent of this chapter is to review the corrosion behavior of the major classes of metals and alloys as well as some nonmetallic materials, describe typical corrosion applications, and present some unique weaknesses of various types of materials. It also aims to point out some unique material characteristics that may be important in material selection, and discuss, where appropriate, the characteristic forms of corrosion that attack specific materials. The materials addressed in this chapter include carbon steels, weathering steels, and alloy steels; nickel, copper, aluminum, titanium, lead, magnesium, tin, zirconium, tantalum, niobium, and cobalt and their alloys; polymers; and other nonmetallic materials, including rubber, carbon and graphite, and woods.

This chapter discusses various processes involved in the production of steel from raw materials to finished mill products. The processes include hot rolling, cold rolling, forging, extruding, or drawing. The chapter provides a detailed description of two main furnaces used for making steel: the electric arc furnace and the basic oxygen furnace. It also provides information on the classification and specifications for various steels, namely, plain carbon steels, low-carbon steels, medium-carbon plain carbon steels, and high-carbon plain carbon steels. The chapter concludes with a general overview of the factors influencing corrosion in iron and steel and a brief discussion of corrosion-resistant coatings.

This chapter describes nondestructive evaluation (NDE) test methods and their relative effectiveness for diagnosing the cause of stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) service failures. It discusses procedures for analyzing various types of damage in carbon and low-alloy steels, high-strength low-alloy steels, hardenable stainless steels, austenitic stainless steels, copper-base alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, aluminum and aluminum alloys, and nickel and nickel alloys. It identifies material-environment combinations where SCC is known to occur, provides guidelines on how to characterize cracking and fracture damage, and explains what to look for during macroscopic and microscopic examinations as well as chemical and metallographic analyses. It also includes nearly a dozen case studies investigating SCC failures in various materials.