Corrosion

Article By:

Shores, David A. Department of Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Latanision, R. M. H. H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Searson, Peter C. H. H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Last reviewed:January 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.163300

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• Corrosion, published June 2014:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

Interactions between a material and its environment, resulting in a degradation of the physical, mechanical, or esthetic properties of that material. More specifically, corrosion is usually associated with the oxidation or dissolution of a metal, oxide, or semiconductor. For example, immersing a piece of iron in a moderately acidic solution is a typical example of corrosion; the vigorous reaction is the electrochemical oxidation of iron from the zero valence state to divalent ferrous ions (Fe⁺²) dissolved in the water. Corrosion encompasses principles from diverse fields such as electrochemistry, metallurgy, physics, chemistry, and biology (Fig. 1). See also: Electrochemistry; Metallurgy

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