Researchers are using new, experimental techniques like Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE™) and friction stir welding to produce metal components that are lighter, stronger, and more precise than ever before. But as we enter those new frontiers of metalworking, it’s crucial to understand the performance and properties of the resulting metals and the bonds between them. Corrosion—a process by which metals degrade—can pose serious problems over time, but until now, it’s been tricky to visualize and explain exactly how corrosion progresses through a metal or a bond between two metals.
Now, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed a new technique to get a high-resolution look at how—and why—corrosion happens.