Three "special" oxides – aluminum oxide, chromium oxide and silicon dioxide – can actually work to protect metal from further corrosion. So the MIT team set out to explore why this was the case.

Unlike iron, aluminum does not rust but instead forms a thin, protective layer of aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3), which provides excellent corrosion resistance. This oxide layer, typically 2–3 nm thick, ...

Background Pure aluminum (Al) is generally considered corrosion-resistant due to the protective nature of the spontaneously forming aluminum oxide passive film. This film acts as a wide bandgap ...

But this isn’t your ordinary corrosion ,the oxide grows as strange, fibrous white structures that resemble frost or hair-like crystals.We’ll break down the chemistry behind this unique ...

Protecting Aluminum Boats From Salt Water Corrosion Pontoon boats, with aluminum pontoons in contact in salt water, require special care. Boating Magazine In 2012, boaters bought 77,150 aluminum boats ...

Since aluminum is chemically active, it’s staying busy in the presence of oxygen in the air to form aluminum oxide which also protects it from corrosion. You also have to keep the inside of the boat ...

So, though magnesium offers more protective electrons faster, it protects for only about one-third the time of zinc, and just one-fifth the time of aluminum. In a hypothetical situation where zinc ...

Aluminum's sheer bulk — some 8 percent of the Earth's crust by weight, according to the University of Wisconsin — makes it easy to take this metal for granted. But aluminum is lightweight (a ...