FOREWORD

In the roughly 10 years since the appearance of the second edition of the Corrosion Handbook, new technologies and new engineering systems have found their way into the global marketplace at an increasing rate. It is no wonder now that a third edition would be timely and appropriate. It is also no surprise that the third edition would expand the scope of the previous editions to include chapters on composites such as are used in airframes, shape memory alloys which nd application in medical devices, and electrodeposited nanocrystals as well as application-specic chapters which address the materials of construction of the engineered barriers for nuclear waste containment, ethanol-induced stress corrosion cracking of carbon steels, and other such topics. An entirely new section on corrosion monitoring also appears in the third edition. Corrosion is ubiquitous: All engineering systems are subject to environmental degradation in service environments, whether these systems are used to meet the energy needs of the inhabitants of this planet; to provide clean air; to treat and transport water, food, and other products typical of our commercial world; to both save and improve the quality of our lives; and to ensure the readiness of those engineering systems that are of importance in terms of national defense and homeland security as well as many others. From heart stents to nuclear electric generating stations, corrosion is part of our world. The Corrosion Handbook continues today, as it has since its rst appearance over 60 years ago, to serve as a trusted resource to generations of corrosion engineers. There are many reasons to believe that its presence in the libraries of engineering practitioners of all kinds is greater now than ever before. First, it appears that much of the expertise in this area of technology, which resided for decades in the staff and laboratories of metal producers, has retired and is not being

replaced as many of the metal producers have responded to the global economy of the past decade and more. Second, the interest of young people in engineering education, including corrosion engineering, is also in decline. Third, as the global economy recovers from the meltdown of the recent past, nations with a strong manufacturing base that creates products of value to the market will respond most quickly. But this will require an educated and informed engineering workforce. It is a concern to me that industrialized nations all over the world are on the brink of losing this technological infrastructure through retirement, the decline of traditional manufacturing industries, and declining student interest. Without a means of capturing this expertise in a useful form the next generation of engineers are going to nd a gap in their knowledge base. I am condent that this volume will be of value in that context. Every industrialized nation must have the capacity and intellectual strength necessary to design, manufacture, and maintain either contemporary engineering systems or emerging engineering systems that may nd their way into the marketplace of the future. The Corrosion Handbook remains an invaluable resource in that regard, and once again Winston Revie has assembled a world-class group of authors in producing a comprehensive volume covering the entire eld of contemporary corrosion engineering. R. M. LATANISION
February 2010 Director (Emeritus) The H. H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory, MIT, and Corporate Vice President ExponentFailure Analysis Associates, Inc. Natick, Massachusetts

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