You Spend More on Rust Than Gasoline (Probably)

The colossal cost of a simple chemical reaction.

Metals are so necessary and important to modern society that we’ll never escape the problem of corrosion, but the field of corrosion engineering continues to advance so that we can learn more about how to manage it and mitigate its incredible cost.

Errata: Stainless steels have a minimum of 10.5% chromium.

Practical Engineering is a YouTube channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos!

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This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

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This video is sponsored by Hello Fresh.
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Producer/Writer/Host: Grady Hillhouse
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Intern: Myles Jonas

[RealEngineering]

The Statue of Liberty is actually a complete remake because they used mild steel and copper for the original. The galvanic corrosion came very close to making the whole thing collapse before it was discovered. I think it took over 1 billion dollars to remake it with better materials

[TheJf]

When it comes to educational content creators, Grady is gold tier. There is a fine line between informative mono tone videos and lively fun videos with maybe less facts, Grady nails it. Thank you for all of your hard work, and for helping share your knowledge with the world!

[Snookers_]

Oxidation is also probably one of the most important, yet most underappreciated parts of modern metallurgy too. Without the incredibly thin layers of oxidation on all metals, different objects would "zip up" causing parts that should move against each other to completely seize. An everyday example of this is thread galling where certain metals will lose their oxide layer as they enter an almost oxygen-free environment in a threaded hole. If both metals lose their oxide layer they'll start to stick together.

A lesser known, more historical example is on satellites and other objects in space/vacuum. Solar panel positioners initially functioned very well, but engineers were noticing that they were becoming increasingly more difficult to adjust, and eventually seized. The vacuum environment was perfect for mitigating oxidation, and also destroying it. Metals with a softer, less stable oxide layer had their oxidation flake off and the metals began to "zip up" even if they were completely different elements/alloys (crystal lattices are pretty cool). This led to engineers using and designing materials that had very thick, hard, and stable oxide layers for things such as bearings and other moving pieces. R&D for ceramics also skyrocketed as well.

[The_Superyacht_Paint_Expert]

As a coatings / corrosion expert that sees this stuff every single day…. The general population has zero clue as to how bad things truly are. Due to corruption and bad policies, maintenance is left as a last minute thing to address. It’s disgusting and infuriating to see agencies minimize the severity. Love the channel tho man! Keep up the great content!

[MEUProductions]

Just started working in steel fabrication a few weeks ago. I’ve been watching this channel for about two years. This entire video is my life right now.

[cometor]

It's funny that in Germany you call the protecting rust layers from the steel Edelrost, which translates to noble rust. Which in my opinion is a fitting name.

[evergreenappreciator]

As a merchant mariner currently sailing on a rather rusty ship, I'm glad to see you covering corrosion!

[Kashed]

As one of a small number of people who worked on a design/build of an ozone pilot plant to conduct a feasibility study for the city of Flint, the fact that they chose to ignore our report stating that the use of the Flint river was infeasible due to specific risks, yet they chose to hire another firm and do it anyway is disgusting and heartbreaking for the residents. They should have just continued to utilize the existing source from Port Huron. Seeing the Flint water plant in your video just brings back memories of my time working in that building. It’s unbelievable what politicians will do.

[dwayne]

When I was in the USAF, I had a reason to go to the plane paint shop. The airman that worked there was called a corrosion control specialist. He explained how the aircraft skin, if not properly painted, will fail and the plane will crash. By the time I worked at a nuclear power plant, corrosion control and surface coatings very vital on some systems for the safety of the general public and plant personnel. Paint just doesn't make things pretty, it protects them.

[mikeb.]

I have been watching this channel 5+ years with my son to learn about practical engineering things. I just wanted to take a moment to express thanks for the videos over the years. In this video I found the example of Flint Michigan fascinating as no major media reported the detail that I learned here in just a couple of minutes.

[kenschaefer]

When I was in the Air Force in the 1970s we had a career field called Corrosion Control. I was on a Preventative Maintenance team that worked on Minuteman Missile sites. One of our team members was a Corrosion Control Technician that we called a "Crud Man." His truck was the "Crud Van."

[desmond-hawkins]

(11:08) regarding anti-corrosion agents in the water supply and how "the city of Flint decided against it, again to save on costs", it's worth mentioning how much they saved: not adding orthophosphates saved Flint less than $100/day. The estimated cost of the water crisis that ensued is over $600 million so far, and that's just the monetary cost. The impact on the health of its residents will last for decades, and kids who grew up drinking water with high amounts of lead won't get these IQ points back.

[ianlehman]

I think the clip at 1:01 is horribly underrated, whoever walked out on that catwalk with a video camera while it was being pummeled had to have had a deathwish, just to catch such close footage

[nickgandy]

I'm a roped access building surveyor and have to inspect corrosion on structures on a daily basis. This video is really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it

[somebod]

Used to study in structural health monitoring. It's "easy" to detect damage e.g. from impacts, but the slow corrosion is near impossible to detect.
I once saw a part of a chemical plant: It was 2cm of steel (specifically designed to be as inert as possible) and it had holes going nearly through the whole thing. The guy who brought it with him said that they had the thing running for about a day. Not rust, but still corrosion (I think). A few hours longer and they would have had tonnes of acid spilling in their plant.

[fakinyamo]

As a corrosion engineer myself, I greatly appreciate you bringing some light to this, sometimes overlooked, engineering field.

[stankaliski]

I remember some of the yearly training I had as an aircraft mechanic in the USAF. The had a section devoted to it called Corrosion Control. Our aircraft (like many) were exposed to many different environments. You could be at a base in a desert where the aircraft is subject to dust and sand storms and then pick up and fly to an island where it was subject to high humidity and salt content. Sand storms can do a number on the paint protecting the metals and then the salt air can exacerbate the problem.

[abpsd]

Living in a place where tons of salt are dumped on the roads every winter, I'm quite familiar with rust and what it costs me as it eats my vehicles.
Are you going to do a follow up of this episode? Covering things such as various platings and coatings, as well as cathodic protection for underground pipes and fittings?

[redbeard]

Your channel literally makes me look at the world around me differently. Thank you.

[DotADBX]

I have been really enjoying these videos on corrosion as someone who comes from a industrial coatings background its nice to see information that is often hidden behind closed doors become more readily available and with such high quality of content as well.