Corrosion - the bane of all the industries

Corrosion is the journey of an element from its most active form to its most stable form. 

The birth

At the place of its birth, inside the earth, an element such as iron comes into contact with atmospheric oxygen, chlorides, sulphate, and moisture. and is quite happy to remain in peace with them in the form of Fe₂O₃, Fe₃O₄, FeCl₃ and such.

The growth

It is then extracted and made to go through a number of processes which separate it from the ions and bring it to its elemental form. It is then put into use to make steel, where it coexists with carbon, manganese, chromium, and other alloying elements.

The interaction

However, iron has three electrons that it desperately need to give away. That is exactly what it does the moment the steel is brought out from the factory and put outside in the shed. Iron is more than happy to reunite with its old buddies - oxygen and moisture. It gladly gives away its electrons to them and returns to its peaceful state of Fe₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄.

And that is how the corrosion of steel begins.

https://corrospective.com/

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