The iconic Vilvoorde Viaduct requires urgent restoration, with the primary culprit being corrosion. The underlying reinforcement is rusting, causing the concrete around the corroded steel to break away, which in turn accelerates further corrosion. This phenomenon occurs in nearly all applications involving iron, zinc, aluminium, titanium, and copper. Researchers from the SURF group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) are investigating ways to predict corrosion across these materials and will present their findings at EUROCORR 2023, the world’s largest corrosion conference, taking place in Brussels from 27–31 August.
“The overall cost of corrosion is enormous,” explains VUB Professor Herman Terryn, one of the organisers of the conference, along with his colleague Professor Iris De Graeve. “Depending on the source, the cost is estimated to be between 3 and 6% of GDP – comparable to the cost of our education system. Studies show that with better knowledge, monitoring, material selection, and prevention, we could recover around half of these costs, saving billions of euros. Our research also helps anticipate and prevent hazardous situations.”
“Combating corrosion is often compared to medicine,” Terryn continues, “where a healthy lifestyle corresponds to preventing corrosion, treating a patient mirrors corrosion repair, and estimating life expectancy reflects predicting the lifespan of a metal structure.”
The metals we use are typically in a so-called metallic state, purposefully engineered into alloys with essential properties like strength or electrical conductivity. However, in nature, these metals rarely occur in their pure state, apart from noble metals like gold, and even then only in very small quantities. Metals like iron, aluminium, and zinc are most often found bound in stable compounds, such as oxides, within ores. Extracting pure metals from these ores requires enormous amounts of energy. By extending the lifespan of metals in their usable but unstable state, significant energy savings can be achieved.
Unfortunately, nature strives for stability. Extracted metals are constantly seeking to return to their most stable form – their natural state in the ore. “We take metals from nature, and nature takes them back – that’s corrosion,” Terryn explains. “Even simple exposure to humid sea air can cause metals to oxidise, forming metal ions or oxides. It’s a back-to-nature process. Sadly, this also means that our valuable metals are degraded and fail in their applications. In the case of iron, this is commonly referred to as rust, but the term corrosion applies to all metals.”
In our modern society, corrosion is a massive issue. Examples include rusting steel bridges, concrete degradation in tunnels and piers, and corrosion in cars, ships, aircraft, and wind turbines. It also affects high-risk structures, such as those in petrochemicals and nuclear power plants.
EUROCORR 2023 will bring together academics and industry leaders to tackle these challenges. This year’s focus is on the role of corrosion in industries undergoing transition, where metals play a vital role. Topics include metal recycling, CO₂-free production, 3D metal printing, and metals’ roles in energy transitions, such as wind turbines, batteries, hydrogen storage and transport, and new nuclear power plants.
For decades, the VUB’s SURF group has been a pioneer in understanding and combating metal corrosion across various sectors. A key focus is developing predictive models using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
The EUROCORR 2023 conference will be held from Sunday, 27 August to Thursday, 31 August 2023, at the Square in Brussels. Organised by the European Corrosion Federation, it is the largest annual corrosion event in the world, attracting over 1,000 participants. This year’s theme, Driving Corrosion Prediction and Protection Towards a Circular Economy, aims to unite scientists and industry professionals from around the globe to tackle the challenge of predicting and preventing metal corrosion.
The Belgian edition is a collaboration between the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the University of Mons, the Belgian Association for Surface Treatment of Metals (VOM), and Materia Nova.