Self-healing Steel Could Kick Corrosion to the Curb

While advancements in metal coatings don’t typically make headlines, perhaps they should. Metals like steel serve as critical support within construction, automotive, aerospace, and industrial applications, among others. But working with steel has its drawbacks, and one of the biggest challenges in maintaining this metal is corrosion. According to the National Association of Corrosion Engineers — or NACE — the global cost of corrosion is around $2.5 trillion dollars, a figure that doesn’t even include safety or environmental impacts. Fortunately, scientists from Rice University say they might have a solution. According to a new research study published in Advanced Materials, Rice scientists may have produced a new alloy that has the potential to be highly resistant to corrosion. A coating developed using a lightweight sulfur-selenium alloy has proven effective so far in preventing corrosion after being applied to steel that’s then submerged in seawater for a month.