Course Curriculum & Career Overview
Diploma Corrosion (DC) - The insidious destruction of metals and alloys by chemical reaction (mainly oxidation) with the environment. In moist air most metals form a surface layer of oxide, which, if it is coherent, may slow down or prevent further corrosion.The term "corrosion" can be applied generally to mean the degradation of any material, including polymers (plastics, rubbers, etc), ceramics (concrete, brick, etc), and composites (mechanical mixtures of two or more materials with different properties. For example, the cracking of a polymer due to sunlight is a form of corrosion. However, most of what follows applies specifically to the corrosion of metals and alloys.