CORROSION ENGINEER

"Corrosion Engineer"

After you read Definition Corrosion, Mechanism Corrosion, and Localized Corrosion, it must be the basic knowledge in order to be Corrosion Scientist and Corrosion Engineer, but actually both are different. We must know what is the differences between them, just read this article.

 It has been said that the aim of science is “knowing why”, while technology deals with “knowing how”. One of the famous corrosion scientists, T.P. Hoar, considered the technologist as a person who utilizes his scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.

However, it is the situation and the technological problem that one is facing that decides the extent to which the practical solution can be based on scientific knowledge. 

In corrosion technology as Corrosion Engineering many problems are solved more or less by pure experience because the conditions are too complex to be described and explained theoretically. On the other hand, it is evident that great progress in corrosion technology can be obtained by the application of corrosion theory to practical problems to a much higher extent than what has been done traditionally.

This can be done i) in order to explain corrosion cases, to find the reasons and prevent new attacks, ii) in corrosion testing with the aim of materials selection, materials development etc., and in monitoring by electrochemical methods, iii) for the prediction of corrosion rates and localization, and iv) to improve methods for corrosion prevention in general, and to select and apply the methods more properly in specific situations.

This point of view is considered useful as a basis for corrosion education and it has been a guideline for teaching corrosion to mechanical and marine engineering. It starts with an article of the most important corrosion theory. Then we apply this theory as much as possible to practical corrosion problems.

Corrosion and corrosion protection is more interdisciplinary than most subjects in engineering. Consequently, mastery of corrosion means that it is necessary to have insight into physical chemistry and electrochemistry, electronics/electrical techniques, physical metallurgy, mechanical properties of materials, fluid dynamics, selective design, joining technology, and the materials market situation.

These areas of knowledge constitute the foundation upon which corrosion technology is built. Since corrosion involves chemical change, the student must be familiar with principles of chemistry in order to understand corrosion reactions. Because corrosion processes are mostly electrochemical, an understanding of electrochemistry is also important. Furthermore, since structure and composition of a metal often determine corrosion behavior, the student should be familiar with the fundamentals of physical metallurgy as well.

The corrosion scientist studies corrosion mechanisms to improve (a) the understanding of the causes of corrosion and (b) the ways to prevent or at least minimize damage caused by corrosion.

The Corrosion Engineer, on the other hand, applies scientific knowledge to control corrosion. For example, the corrosion engineer uses cathodic protection on a large scale to prevent corrosion of buried pipelines, tests and develops new and better paints, prescribes proper dosage of corrosion inhibitors, or recommends the correct coating.

The corrosion scientist, in turn, develops better criteria of cathodic protection, outlines the molecular structure of chemical compounds that behave best as inhibitors, synthesizes corrosion - resistant alloys, and recommends heat treatment and compositional variations of alloys that will improve their performance. Both the scientific and engineering viewpoints supplement each other in the diagnosis of corrosion damage and in the prescription of remedies.

Those all the explanation of differences between corrosion scientist and Corrosion Engineer, I hope those make it clear in our mind set. If you have another opinion, just send comment in this blog, and let's discuss.