MSE415H1

Environmental Degradation of Materials

This course deals with four major areas: electrochemistry of low temperature aqueous solvents, the corrosion of materials, mechano-chemical effects in materials and corrosion prevention in design. Electrochemistry deals with thermodynamics of material-electrolyte systems involving ion-solvent, ion-ion interactions, activity coefficients, Nernst equation and Pourbaix diagrams, and rate theory through activation and concentration polarization. Corrosion of metallic, polymeric, ceramic, composite, electronic and biomaterials will be explored along with mechano-chemical effects of stress corrosion, hydrogen embrittlement and corrosion fatigue. Corrosion prevention in terms of case histories and the use of expert systems in materials selection.