Page 760 - Corrosion Engineering Principles and Practice

APPENDIX A

Historical

Perspective

Organized studies have been devoted to corrosion for a longer time
than most people realize. The British Association for the Advancement
of Science appropriated a sum of money for a series of corrosion
experiments on the corrosion of cast and wrought iron in the 1830s.
Experiments were conducted by Robert Mallet and reported by him
in 1838, 1840, and 1843. Mallet’s work was done in an era in which
gifted scientists were investigating the properties of matter.
Many interesting references and reflections on historical aspects
of corrosion can be found in the special symposium that was held to
celebrate NACE International’s fiftieth anniversary [1]. Table A.1
presents some historical landmarks of discoveries related to the
understanding and management of corrosion.
The science of corrosion has had two periods of rapid advancement.
One, in the first half of the nineteenth century, was a result of intense
and sustained scientific interest and activity aroused by the invention
of the galvanic battery, and the controversy over the nature and
source of the galvanic current. The other, in the first half of the
twentieth century, was stimulated by growing realization of the
immense economic cost of corrosion in a rapidly developing industrial
age. In the latter period, a number of theories and facts established in
the earlier one were rediscovered or elaborated, or both. These include
the electrochemical theory of corrosion, proposed by Wollaston in
1801, developed by de La Rive in 1830, confirmed by Ericson-Auren
and Palmaer in 1901, and rediscovered by Whitney in 1903 [2].
As early as 1819, Hall demonstrated the necessity of dissolved
oxygen for appreciable corrosion of iron in water at ordinary
temperatures and Sir Humphrey Davy published results of his work
on cathodic protection of copper bottoms for British naval vessels in
1824. These early experiments established a practical base for the
application of cathodic protection, which led to the development of
galvanized iron.
In 1906, Committee U of the American Society for Testing Materials
(ASTM) was formed to promote the development of corrosion tests.

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