Contemporary Modes of Corrosion Protection and Functionalization of Materials

Corrosion protection is an important global issue. Corrosion affects all metal materials in industry, infrastructure, civil engineering, transport, biomedicine, etc. causing their deterioration and degradation. Corrosion protection is a necessity which enables the safe and well-functioning of metal structures and devices. In addition to long-term efficiency, corrosion protection should be environmentally and economically acceptable. Growing population with needs on modern and high-tech technologies is boosting consumption of base and rare earth metals. All these issues are putting high demands on area of corrosion protection with the main goal to prolong the life-time of metal materials, reduce the need for steeply increasing production and thus preserve resources. In this review contemporary modes of corrosion protection of metal materials with the emphasis on copper and aluminium base alloys as one of most important base metals are presented. These include corrosion inhibitors, conversion, sol-gel and hydrophobic coatings. Examples are our research studies over the last decade are presented.