CORROSION Definition of corrosion Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions

with its surroundings.

In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen. Formation of an oxide of iron due to oxidation of the iron atoms in solid solution is a well -known example of electrochemical corrosion, commonly known as rusting. This type of damage typically produces oxide(s) and/or salt(s) of the original metal. Corrosion can also refer to other materials than metals, such as ceramics or polymers, although in this context, the term degradation is more common.
In other words, corrosion is the wearing away of metals due to a ch emical reaction.

Corrosion is the reaction between a material and its environment. The best known example of corrosion is steel; as soon as iron ore has been smelted and refined to produce steel, nature begins to reverse the process. The steel reacts with the environment to form products such as oxides, sulfates, sulfides, and chlorides that no longer have the required physical and chemical properties. Some industries which rely heavily on corrosion prevention are, o f course, the transportation and infrastructure industries, to name a few. Others include chemical processing and water treatment. The reason for corrosion prevention in transport industries is rather self explanatory. If metals are allowed to rust on cars, metals will break apart and the entire integrity of the car will be affected. Also, if the car chassis or the wheel axle under the car breaks apart due to corrosion (aka rusting) the results would be catastrophic. These effects would be amplified even more on larger cars such as semis or 18- wheelers. Yet another industry in which rust prevention is essential is the infrastructure industry. Most high-rise buildings, as well as megamalls in the world are built with concrete filled, with steel reinforcements. If the steel poles on the inside rust and corrode, the entire building would suffer in integrity. The same applies to bridges and other steel-reinforced structures.

Some examples would be the Silver Bridge in the United States, or the Mianus River Bridge. Both suffered major structural damage due to corrosion of the steel reinforcements in them, eventually leading to a weakened load capacity. They alone resulted in the deaths of 46 people, citing how dangerous corrosion and rusting can be. In chemical processing and water treatment industries, corrosion prevention is even more imperative. The rust that results from oxidation of metal is mostly, if not all, poisonous to the human body. Inhalation or absorbance into the human body can cause many problems. If such a problem were to occur, in sa y, the NEWater treatment plants in Singapore, the results would be unthinkable. Some diseases, such as tetanus, are caused by puncture of skin by rusted objects.
Sacrificial protection

Sacrificial protection is a method of preventing rust most often used on ships or underground pipes. For example, a steel hull ship, a crab fishing boat will have a piece of metal more reactive than the steel, usually zinc or magnesium (due to their relatively high reactivity compared to most commonly used metal, and their ease to obtain) to corrode in the seawater in place of the steel hull. This is because every time the steel is oxidised, the sacrificial metal plate will transfer electrons to the steel hull, thus reverting it back instead of it forming iron (III) hydroxide. Thus, the more reactive metal is sacrificed in the place of the iron. The same applies to underground pipelines.
Galvanisation

(from Wikipedia)
Galvanization (or galvanisation) classically refers to any of several electrochemical processes named after the Italian scientist Luigi Galvani. Now the term generally refers to an electro deposition process used to add a thin layer of another metal to a ferrous substrate, in order to prevent rusting applying a protective metallic coating to an underlying piece of metal, using a process called hot-dip galvanization, which produces similar results, but which does not employ electrochemical deposition.

Basically, galvanisation refers to the coating of a metal with zinc. The zinc coating reacts with the surrounding air to form zinc oxide, and further reacts with the water molecules to form an impervious layer of zinc hydroxide, which is insoluble and prevents further reaction with the metal within and the air outside. This effectively protects the metal from corroding or rusting.

Other methods of protection

(taken from corrosionist.com) Another method of corrosion control often neglected is modifying the operating environment. Using a selective backfill around a buried structure, using corrosion inhibitors in power plant or in engine cooling systems, and modifying structures to provide adequate drainage are all examples of the use of this method of corrosion control. Although best employed during the design stage, in some cases, actions taken to correct corrosion problems through modifying the environment can be taken after a system is built. Careful identification and characterization of corrosion problems will often reveal opportunities for changing the environment to control corrosion.
Negative impacts on our lives

One very obvious impact rusting has is the unsightly view of brown iron(III) oxide; it spoils the beauty in many classic cars. Another impact of corrosion is that it can cause diseases. A rusty iron nail can cause tetanus if it penetrates the skin. Also, corrosion of metals will cost a lot of money to repair if damage is widespread, and will take its toll on the economy. The estimated annual cost of corrosion in the US is approximately $276 million dollars ( about 3% of USAs GDP in 1998). This money could be used for health, infrastructure, and many other industries, but instead it is wasted here.
Thermite reaction

A thermite reaction is basically iron oxide (rust) reacting with aluminum to produce molten iron. The reaction is initiated by the heat from burning magnesium ribbon which is placed in the iron oxide/alu minum mixture, this is the fuse (Any heat source can be used to start the reaction but it needs to be very hot as magnesium burns at about 650C (1200F) ) This reaction is highly exothermic and produces molten metal at about 3000c. Water should not be used to extinguish the reaction, since addition of water to hot iron produces potentially explosive hydrogen gas. This works because the thermite mixture is aluminum powder and iron oxide (rust) powder. When the mixture is heated, it starts reacting: the aluminum is more reactive than the iron, so it "pinches" the oxygen from the iron to make aluminum oxide and iron.

A balanced equation for the reaction is: Fe2O3 + 2Al --> Al2O3 + 2Fe reaction is a classic example of an exothermic redox reaction! This means that the reaction produces energy by rearranging chemical compounds to form different ones. The reaction starts with an element (aluminium) and a compound (iron oxide). It is ignited by a reaction that produces a lot of heat. Then the atoms rearrange themselves into a different element (iron) and a different compound (aluminium oxide). A lot of energy is produced in the form of light and heat. This simply means that one molecule of iron(III) oxide reacts with two atoms of aluminium to form one molecule of aluminium oxide and two atoms of iron metal. The reaction is called a "redox" reaction because the iron is "reduced" from being bound to oxygen to being a free atom. The aluminium, on the other hand, has been "oxidised" - it has gone from being a free atom to being bound to oxygen. Heat is produced in the reaction, it is "exothermic". This is because aluminium is a more reactive metal than iron, it prefers to be bound to other elements so energy is released when it reacts with iron oxide.
Applications

The Thermite Reaction has been used in various importan t applications. It is used to weld sections of steel together in-place. For example, the mixture can be placed between sections of railway track and ignited, welding the tracks toegther. It is also used in times of war. During the Second World War, for exa mple, after D-day when the Allied troops were seeking to disable German artillary, instead of wasting explosives they used the Thermite mixture to weld the parts of the guns together.

CONCLUSION

Corrosion of materials is a very costly and dangerous thing, and costs a lot to repair or maintain. It is better to prevent it rather than cure it, to save costs. It also has many impacts on our lives.
Bibliography
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Thermite-Reaction http://www.davidavery.co.uk/thermite/index.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrosion#Resistance_to_corrosion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Bridge http://pipelinesinternational.com/news/committed_to_corrosion_prevention_nace_internation al/053613/

Done by: Liao Weixiang Class: 4P1 Register: 10