When it comes to fighting corrosion, industry needs coatings and materials that work smarter, not harder. The science of encapsulation has enabled the development of smart, self-healing materials that can stop corrosion when it starts. What is the science behind these materials, and what are the current limitations? Let’s take a closer look at where encapsulation technology is now and where it may take us in the future -for corrosion control and beyond.
Corrosion is a naturally occurring process that starts very small, with invisible changes to the physical structure of a material (usually a metal). These changes can be caused by a chemical reaction when metals are exposed to water, acids, gases or even chemicals produced by microbes (called microbially induced corrosion, or MIC).