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Assessment of Corrosion Education

ISBN
Committee on Assessing Corrosion Education, National Research Council
978-0-309-11703-6

180 pages
7 x 10
PAPERBACK (2009)

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Assessment of Corrosion Education

Summary

Corrosion has been the subject of scientific study for about 150 years.
istorically, corrosion has meant the destructive oxidation of metals. But today
H
engineering applications include a multitude of nonmetallic materials, and the
term corrosion now signifies the degradation and loss of function by exposure
to the operational environment of all materials. Corrosion can have a great impact
on the safety and reliability of an extremely wide range of articles of commerce,
and its economic impact in the United States is very large. It plays a critical role in
determining the life-cycle performance, safety, and cost of engineered products and
systems of value to the national defense and the general health and welfare of the
public. Technology areas where corrosion plays an important role include energy
production (for example, power plant operation and oil and gas exploration, pro-
duction, and distribution), transportation (for example, automotive and aerospace
applications), biomedical engineering (for example, implants), water distribu-
tion and sewerage, electronics (for example, chip wiring and magnetic storage),
and nanotechnology. While the successful application of corrosion understanding
already saves billions of dollars annually in these endeavors, studies have concluded
that a wider application of our understanding of the corrosion phenomenon could
reduce the cost of corrosion to the nation even more.

One such study, the Department of Defenses (DODs) Efforts to Reduce Corrosion on the Military


Equipment and Infrastructure of the Department of Defense (2008), estimates that the average return
on investment from over 80 corrosion mitigation projects carried out over 3 years is around 50:1.
Available at http://www.corrdefense.org/CorrDefense%20Magazine/Summer%202007/PDF/2007_
DOD_Corrosion_Report.pdf. Accessed August 2008.

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Corrosion Education

 Assessment of C o r ro s i o n E d u c at i o n

The 2001 report Corrosion Costs and Preventive Strategies in the United States
noted that technological changes and the wider use of available corrosion manage-
ment techniques have improved corrosion mitigation. However, better corrosion
management can also be achieved using preventive strategies in nontechnical and
technical areas. These preventive strategies include (1) increase awareness of the
large costs of corrosion and the potential for savings, (2) change the misconcep-
tion that nothing can be done about corrosion, (3) change policies, regulations,
standards, and management practices to decrease corrosion costs through sound
corrosion management, (4) improve education and training of staff in recogni-
tion and control of corrosion, (5) improve design practices for better corrosion
management, (6) advance life prediction and performance assessment methods,
and (7) advance corrosion technology through research, development, and imple-
mentation. Although there are likely to be many reasons why these strategies are
not routinely followed, in the committees view strengthening corrosion education
would be a major step toward improved corrosion control and management. An
engineering workforce that is ill-equipped to deal with corrosion problems begs
the question, What are engineers being taught about corrosion? Is it sufficient? This
study was commissioned to do two things:

Assess the level and effectiveness of existing engineering curricula in

corrosion science and technology, including corrosion prevention and
control, and
Recommend actions that could enhance the corrosion-based skill and
knowledge base of graduating and practicing engineers.

From the perspective of assessing corrosion education, the workforce of gradu-

ating and practicing engineers is divided as follows:

Technologists who perform repeated critical tasks;

Undergraduate engineering students in materials science and engineer-
ing (MSE), who upon graduation should be knowledgeable in materials
selection;
Undergraduate students in other engineering disciplines; and
MSE graduate students, who upon graduation should be very knowledge-
able in materials selection.

Advances in corrosion control are integral to the development of technolo-

gies that can solve the engineering grand challenges related to the sustainability

For more information, see www.corrosioncost.com/home.html. Accessed February 2008.



Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Corrosion Education

Summary 

and vulnerability of current, legacy, and future engineered products, systems, and
infrastructure. Some examples are as follows:

Energy infrastructure. Corrosion is likely to be a key issue in solar cell life-

time and wind turbine performance. Strategies for scrubbing emissions
and capturing carbon will likely be limited by corrosion, as will be the high
efficiencies of central power plants, which are achieved by means of a high-
temperature working fluid.
Transportation fuels infrastructure. A new set of corrosion problems is
likely to limit the operation of the infrastructure for the production and
delivery of new fuel/power systems that rely on batteries, fuel cells, hydro-
gen, ethanol-based biofuels, and so on.
Engineered devices and systems. Composite structures, ceramics, and reactive
metals (such as magnesium) require better corrosion protection because
they are less tolerant of corrosion. For instance, lightweight magnesium, a
key technology being developed by the auto industry, is considerably more
reactive than steel or aluminum. Graphite composites require greater envi-
ronmental resistance to maintain structural integrity.
Health care. The drive to minimize size, maximize capability, and extend
medical device lifetimes places demands on the materials of construction
and on their tolerance for degradation before function is affected. As more
medical devices are implanted to protect and assist an ever-aging popula-
tion, unexpected uses and failures continually occur, and improved under-
standing of the durability of such implanted devices will depend on their
designers having extensive training in corrosion science.
Electronics and computers. As modern electronic circuitry goes to ever
smaller dimensions, new problems arise from environmental attack on
circuits as their surface to volume ratio increases. Sensors are of growing
importance in daily lifefrom monitoring biological activity in the body,
to controlling our cars and providing information on environmental con-
ditions such as wind, precipitation, and chemical contamination. Surface
and interface corrosion processes in these sensors will therefore pose an
increasing threat to device and system reliability.
National defense. Defense readiness is highly sensitive to corrosion, and future
defense systems will continue to present fresh challenges as new materials are
inserted into defense platforms. At any given time, 20 to 50 percent of the U.S.
Air Force tanker fleet is in repair; many U.S. Army vehicles are in repair or are
being used at less than full capacities owing to general wear and corrosion.

In general, materials being used in the modern world are being pushed to
the limits of their operability. The demands will require a workforce conscious of

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Corrosion Education

 Assessment of C o r ro s i o n E d u c at i o n

environmental attack on all types of systems and having the ability to anticipate
and design for sustainability under extreme conditions. The engineering workforce
must have a solid understanding of the physical and chemical bases of corrosion,
as well as an understanding of the engineering issues surrounding corrosion and
corrosion abatement.
The study revealed, nonetheless, that corrosion engineering is not a required
course in the curriculum of most bachelors degree programs in MSE and related
engineering fields. In many programs, corrosion is not only not a required subject,
it is not even available. As a result, most bachelors-level graduates of materials- and
design-related programs have an inadequate background in corrosion engineering
principles and practices.
Employers recognize the need for employees with competence in corrosion
engineering, but they are not finding it in todays graduates. Indeed, their principal
concern is that those making design decisions dont know what they dont know
about corrosion. In the committees judgment, this lack of knowledge and aware-
ness ultimately jeopardizes the health, wealth, and security of our country.
This report also reminds us of the obvious: that the availability of corrosion
classes for graduating and practicing engineers depends on the availability of people
to teach the subject. The availability of teachers is in turn dependent on the health of
the corrosion research community and therefore on the research support available
to that community. If corrosion engineering education is to flourish, the committee
believes the number of MSE faculty specializing in corrosion will need to increase.
This means that federal agencies and industry will need to support university-based
corrosion specialists, who will become a foundational corps of teachers.
The committee has found that industry compensates for the inadequate corro-
sion engineering education of practicing engineers through on-the-job training and
short courses for its employees and the hiring of outside consultants as required.
These continuing skills-based and knowledge-based educational approaches are
widely accepted as useful, and they play an important role depending on the job
function and desired outcomes. However, the continuing education of the work-
force is not a substitute for including corrosion in the curricula for graduating
engineers and technologists.
In government agencies such as DOD, the Army Corps of Engineers, the
Department of Energy, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and state transportation
agencies, the committee finds that maintaining a corps of in-house corrosion
experts is not now and has probably never been a high priority. Likewise, the
committees sense is that current management philosophy in government appears
to expect project managers to find a corrosion expert on demand when projects
require that expertise, largely by outsourcing to a contractor or consultant.
Industry and government reliance on outside contractors to conduct the con-
tinuing education of the workforce or to act as corrosion consultants is ultimately

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Corrosion Education

Summary 

unsustainable as these outsiders learned their trade in the industries and agencies
that are now buying in their services and that are no longer employing (and hence
training) their successors. This situation is aggravated by the retirement of the few
people with corrosion expertise and the near absence of corrosion engineering
experience in new hires emerging from graduate and undergraduate engineering
programs.
Based on the committees expert judgment and its assessment of the data
gathered during the course of this study and the opinions and information received
from government, industry, and the MSE and engineering communities, the com-
mittee concludes that the current level and effectiveness of engineering curricula
in corrosion, offered through university-based and on-the-job training, will not
provide a sufficient framework to allow the country to reduce substantially the
national cost of corrosion or to increase the safety and reliability of the national
infrastructure. In addition, the committee concludes that the recent proactive
stance on corrosion control that DOD has taken will be undermined by the short-
age of engineers and technologists with a sufficient comprehension of corrosion. To
enhance the corrosion-based skill and knowledge base of graduating and practicing
engineers, the committee concludes that corrosion education needs to be revitalized
through (1) short-term tactical actions by educators, government, industry, and
the broader technical community and (2) long-term strategic actions by the federal
government and the corrosion research community. The committee is not recom-
mending a wholesale overhaul of engineering education. Rather, it has identified a
series of actions that can be adopted by institutionseducational, governmental,
and communitythat are interested in increasing corrosion education and aware-
ness. While acknowledging that there are many pressures on the curricula in the
countrys engineering schools, the committee hopes many universities depart-
ments of engineering and MSE will acknowledge the importance to the country of
improving the provision of corrosion knowledge to our future engineers.

Three Shorter-Term Tactical Recommendations

Recommendation: Industry and government agencies should strengthen the
provision of corrosion engineering education. They should

Develop a foundational corps of corrosion faculty by supporting research

and development in the field of corrosion science and engineering.
Provide incentives to the universities, such as endowed chairs in corrosion
control, to promote the hiring of corrosion experts at the universities.
Enable the setting and periodic updating of learning outcomes for cor-
rosion courses by publishing and publicizing skills sets for corrosion
technologists and engineers.

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Corrosion Education

 Assessment of C o r ro s i o n E d u c at i o n

Fund the development of educational modules for corrosion courses.

Support faculty development, offering corrosion-related internships and
sabbatical opportunities, and supporting cooperative programs between
universities and government laboratories to facilitate the graduate stu-
dent research experience.
Increase support for the participation of their engineers in short courses
when specific skills shortages are identified and are required to be filled
in the short term.

Recommendation: Engineering departments in universities should incorporate

elective learning outcomes and course work on corrosion into all engineering
curricula. Improving the overall awareness of corrosion control will require
that more engineers have a basic exposure to corrosion, enough to know what
they dont know.

Recommendation: Materials science and engineering (MSE) departments in the

universities should introduce set required learning outcomes on corrosion into
their curricula. All MSE undergraduate students should be required to take a
course in corrosion control so as to improve the corrosion knowledge of gradu-
ating materials engineers.

Two Longer-Term Strategic RECOMMENDATIONS

In addition to the recommendations above, the details of which are expanded
on in the report, during the course of the study the committee became convinced
that there were two compelling challenges outstanding: one for the federal govern-
ment, in particular the DOD, and one for the corrosion community itself.
The committee is convinced that government can improve the education of the
corrosion workforce by developing a strategic plan with a well-defined vision and
mission. This is the first long-term recommendation the committee is making, and
it is directed to DOD, specifically its Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office. This
plan will require input from a broad set of societal stakeholders and the analytical
capabilities of government, industry, and academia.

Strategic Recommendation to the Government

Recommendation: The Department of Defenses Director of Corrosion Policy
and Oversight, whose congressionally mandated role is to interact directly
with the corrosion prevention industry, trade associations, other government
corrosion-prevention agencies, academic research and educational institutions,

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Corrosion Education

Summary 

and scientific organizations engaged in corrosion prevention, should (1) set up

a corrosion education and research council composed of government agencies,
industry, and academia to develop a continuing strategic plan for fostering cor-
rosion education and (2) should identify resources for executing the plan. The
plan should have the following vision and mission:

Vision. A knowledge of the environmental degradation of all materials is

integrated into the education of engineers.
Mission. To provide guidance and resources that will enable educational
establishments to achieve the vision.

The challenge to the corrosion community is motivated by the committees

observation that the community appears isolated from the rest of the scientific and
engineering community. Repeatedly the committee heard that, on the one hand,
the general research and engineering community considers corrosion science and
engineering to be a mature field, with little compelling science to be done, and that
on the other hand, the corrosion community considers there are many compelling
science questions to be answered, with corrosion mitigation and prevention likely
to be considerably advanced if these questions can be answered. The responsibility
for changing this mismatch in perception falls to the corrosion community itself.
Because the education of a corrosion-savvy workforce is dependent, broadly, on
the health of the corrosion community, the committee offers its second long-term
recommendation to this community.

Strategic Recommendation to the Corrosion Community

Recommendation: To build an understanding of the continuing need for corro-
sion engineering education, the corrosion research community should engage
the larger science and engineering community and communicate the challenges
and accomplishments of the field. To achieve this goal the corrosion research

A National Research Council study getting underway in the autumn of 2008 is charged with

identifying the most compelling scientific questions in fundamental corrosion science. The kinds
of questions it will be considering include these: Is enough known about corrosion to enable the
lifetime of a material to be increased by a factor of 5 or 10? What is the mechanism of pit initiation?
What are the next important processes in corrosion to understand better and model? What is the
true chemistry inside localized corrosion sites, and how does it affect the corrosion processes? Corro-
sion at the nanoscale: What is really of interest, and can corrosion at the nanoscale be forecast from
first principles and multiscale knowledge? What fundamental theory or model toolkit capability do
we need to develop? For more information, see http://www.nationalacademies.org/nmab. Accessed
August 2008.

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Corrosion Education

 Assessment of C o r ro s i o n E d u c at i o n

community should identify and publish the research opportunities and priori-
ties in corrosion research and link them to engineering grand challenges faced
by the nation. To show how the field of corrosion could meet these challenges,
the corrosion research community should reach out to its peers by speaking
at conferences outside the field, publishing in a broad range of journals, and
writing review articles for broad dissemination.

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.