Studies of Carbon Steel Corrosion in Atmospheric Conditions

One of the most frequently corrosion type is the atmospheric corrosion. Carbon steel behavior at atmospheric corrosion is presented on base of the literature data study. This has been reported to account for more failures in terms of cost and tonnage than any other type. About 80% from all degradations produced by corrosion in the metallic constructions are due to the atmospheric corrosion. The atmospheric conditions for corrosion are very complex and the corrosion rates vary in function of geographic zone, of season and daily time. The complexity of the atmosphere, as corrosion environment, results from atmosphere composition and from presence of some factors as pollutants, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, etc. These variables make meaningful results from laboratory experiments very difficult to obtain. The object of this work is to outline the principles that govern atmospheric corrosion of the carbon steel – the construction material with the largest application – how is influenced his corrosion rate by the atmospheric variables and that are the corresponding corrosion products.