A recent perspective article by Ingrid Milošev and John Scully described the relevance of corrosion in sustainability.1 Those of us in the corrosion field understand that the two are closely intertwined. After all, a structure that corrodes away is, by definition, not sustainable. So here is a bold suggestion: the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP) should aspire to be AMPP+S, with the S for sustainability.
As a faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at The Ohio State University for the past 30 years, I lived through the nano/bio craze that infected the materials field 15 years ago. Suddenly the “hot” topics in the field all became connected to nanometer-sized structures and/or biomedical applications. Corrosion science has focused on nm-sized structures for decades—think passive films, precipitates, and solute-depleted zones. Corrosion and protection also played an important role in the design of bio-implants. As a result, the corrosion community engaged in the nano/bio fad to an extent, but we did not jump fully in. The same holds for my department. I had a very quotable colleague who famously said, “We will never fly in a nano airplane,” and we resisted the nano/bio push, instead maintaining a focus on the structure/processing/properties foundation of the field of materials science. This has served us well, as the nano/bio phase faded and the materials world moved on to topics such as energy, manufacturing, and, yes, sustainability.
Despite this past experience on the fleeting nature of hot topics, I think the field of corrosion should fully embrace sustainability because it is not a fad and is here to stay. The definition of sustainability is debated, but is considered to have economic, social, and environmental aspects, with the focus usually placed on the last of those three. Sustainability is critical in today’s world, which is facing a shortage of cheap and safe energy, as well as critical resources needed for the manufacture of many high-tech devices. The carbon dioxide level around the world is increasing at alarming rates, which is clearly leading to global warming and extreme weather, water shortages, etc. This trend is verifiable fact, regardless of whether or not you think the changes are anthropogenic (caused by humans). As a result, there has been a large-scale buy-in of many influential stakeholders to the sustainability craze. For example, the Federal Sustainability Plan promotes carbon-pollution-free electricity, zero-emission vehicles, and net-zero emissions from federal procurement, buildings, and operations. The U.S. Department of Defense has a sustainability plan that echoes the goals set by the federal government. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Sustainability Performance Office has a mission to “proactively lead DOE’s sustainability efforts, collaborate with DOE programs[,] and promote the cost-effective use of resources while monitoring the effectiveness of sustainability programs and initiatives.” And it’s not just the government who has bought into sustainability—the corporate world has done so as well. Search online for the name of any large company and the word “sustainability” and you will find a dedicated page describing their efforts. ExxonMobil, Boeing, Ford, Sherwin-Williams, and Dupont are examples of companies that publicize their efforts in sustainability.
So why should AMPP care? The efforts of government and industry in sustainability are leading to new jobs for our members and new markets for our member companies. We need to fully engage in the topic and promote the importance of materials protection in the sustainability realm. AMPP leadership is starting to address sustainability—there is an active sustainability task force of which I am a member, and an AMPP sustainability landing page has been created. However, AMPP membership needs to buy into this focus and the larger technical community, which is moving quickly into sustainability, needs to be aware of the link between corrosion and sustainability. A few years ago, a Sustainability Institute was formed in my university and nobody thought to include someone from the corrosion center or from the MSE department in the institute leadership. However, the story would have been different had we been called the Fontana Corrosion and Sustainability Center and the Department of Materials Science, Engineering, and Sustainability.
NACE and SSPC just went through a long process of merging and rebranding as AMPP, so another rebranding exercise would be complicated, expensive, and not viable. So while we can’t realistically change the name to AMPPS, we can focus our efforts on sustainability. Because let’s face it, while materials performance and protection are at the core of what we do, sustainability should be as well. So let’s strive to be AMPP+S, the Association for Materials Protection, and Performance, with sustainability front and center.
Editor’s Note: We’re interested in your perspective on sustainability. Share your thoughts with us at [email protected].
