Preface to the First Edition
One of the most important problems confronting engineers today is the development of materials that are reliable under various environmental conditions. In some cases these conditions are considered extremely hostile—very high temperatures, mechanical loading, and/or aggressive chemical attack. Ambient temperature aqueous attack can also be extremely detrimental, especially over an extended period of time, as in the case of hazardous waste disposal. Engineers and scientists have been combating the attack upon ceramics of molten glass, molten metals and slags, and molten salts for hundreds of years with many improvements. Most of these improvements have occurred through experimentation, eventually finding the material that worked best. Only during the past 25 years has a true understanding of the complexities of corrosion of ceramics begun to develop. Major advances have been made in recent years; however, the details in many cases are still questionable or at least debatable.
The cost to industry due to corrosion is considerable and only a thorough understanding of all the complexities of the process will help
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Copyright © 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.
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Preface to the First Edition |
to minimize that cost. There will undoubtedly be many applications of ceramics where the ceramic will be consumed during service, but maximizing service life will greatly reduce the overall cost.
While several books, mostly in the form of symposia proceedings, have been published on various aspects of corrosion of crystalline and glassy ceramics, generally on the newer, advanced materials, none has addressed the subject in a comprehensive manner. The most significant works have been reported in the technical literature; however, reading all the published articles is a formidable task. This book is an attempt to discuss all aspects of the corrosion of ceramics, but no attempt has been made to complete an exhaustive literature review. Although not all areas have been described in great detail, a summary of some of the most important work has been given with references for the interested reader.
This book is based upon a combination of lecture notes from the Advanced Refractories course that the author has taught at Rutgers during the past 15 years and the author’s industrial and consulting experiences. It is intended predominantly as a reference work for practicing engineers and research scientists but could also be used as a text for a graduate-level course in corrosion of ceramics. Any comments or suggestions about the content of this book will be most welcome.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank the faculty and students of the Department of Ceramic and Materials Engineering at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, for many helpful and thoughtful discussions during the preparation of this book and especially Drs. John Wachtman and M. John Matthewson for reviewing a portion of the manuscript and for their valuable suggestions.
The author would like to extend a very special thank you to Mr. William Englert of PPG Industries, who first introduced the author to the fascinating field of corrosion of ceramics.
Gratitude must also be extended to Mrs. Mary Guerin for her help in preparation of the manuscript and to Paul Mort, Robert Sabia, John Martin, and Ryan McCuiston for their help in preparing the figures.
The author would like to extend a very special thank you to his wife, Eleanora, and his son, Matthew, for their understanding during the many long hours required to complete this task.
Ronald A.McCauley
Copyright © 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.