Why do some metals corrode more than others? De La Rive asked himself this question in 1830.1 He was interested at the time in the best quality of zinc for constructing a pile, which in his day meant something quite different from the pile of today concerned with nuclear fission. In 1830 the only source of low-voltage electric energy was a galvanic battery made of metals like zinc and copper piled up one on the other; hence, the name. The salt or acid solutions used as electrolyte for this crude source of electricity corroded the zinc whether or not current was used. De La Rive shrewdly observed that various kinds of zinc behaved differently in this respect, In sulfuric acid, for example, distilled zinc lasted longest. Why was this? He obtained the answer by melting zinc with filings of tin, lead, copper, and iron, and casting these into cylinders....
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
June 1949
Research Article|
June 01 1949
Why Metals Corrode⋆
Herbert H. Uhlig
Herbert H. Uhlig
DR. H. H. UHLIG
Has been active in the field of corrosion over 12 years, beginning in 1936 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, during his work with General Electric Company beginning in 1940 and again with M.l.T. in 1946, where he presently is in charge of the Corrosion Laboratory. He is editor of The Corrosion Handbook and recently was appointed editor of the Journal and Transactions of The Electrochemical Society. His publications in corrosion deal largely with passivity, inhibitors, pitting, stainless steels and fundamental mechanisms.
Search for other works by this author on:
CORROSION (1949) 5 (6): 169–174.
