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.
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Practical Engineering is a KZbin 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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[@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

[@jackmiehoff7530]

You’re a little sussy baka😏😏😏

[@arpit9123]

Says @@jackmiehoff7530

[@claytonnlambert]

Need Impractical Engineering channel that is just engineering failures and lessons learned from those mistakes.

[@88njtrigg88]

Two channels and personalities l love...

[@mattb9343]

Another Fun Fact: The Statue of Liberty has a twin in France. The two Satues of Liberty were made to serve as a reminder of France's support of America as it revolted against the British Empire.

[@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.

[@Yora21]

Oxidation is also a key component in the biological processes of all life, except for some microbes. Combining oxygen we breath with the sugars we eat provides releases some energy which powers all cell functions. (Even plants need oxygen if they want to get the energy from their stored sugar at a later point.) This oxidation of sugars is actually the same chemical process as burining wood and oil.

[@Llorx]

Hey, pretty cool. Thanx.

[@BenKlassen1]

Good info

[@Blox117]

why dont we just ban metals? that will solve the problem completely

[@adams3627]

Don't they also do that on purpose, to "contact weld" components in place during spacewalks?

[@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!

[@TwistedFireX]

Our cities will collapse before politicians give up lining their pockets with our money.

[@ommsterlitz1805]

Why don't we use more Inox metal for everything beside the cost if it's much more durable it should be considered to make already expensive things out of it no ?

[@samnangchea5025]

@@ommsterlitz1805 Stainless has it's own problems. Stainless bolts and hardware tends to either bind, seize or "weld" itself to whatever it is holding down. I worked in the detail area of a car dealership and specialized in the car wash equipment, and although everything was bolted down using stainless hardware and aluminium beams, you still would end up with issues that would often require breaking stuff or retapping and buying new hardware just to service it because the stainless bolts were such a b**ch to work with. So we went to chromed bolts after that which were also 9 times cheaper, way easier to fabricate brackets for, and not too bad to keep "clean".

[@DARKthenoble]

Well David we went from a society where if there was the slightest scratch in the paint people would get the whole car repainted. To a society that just let's everything rot away. David this country isn't going to make it a few more years like this and you know it. Especially when you piont stuff like this out that the people in charge have such a extreme reaction to the slightest insinuation that you should run more then a skeleton crew to them is akin to shooting the family dog in their eyes.

[@LifeisGood762]

@@DARKthenoble Getting a car repainted for a single scratch, every time you get a scratch is incredibly expensive today. I wouldn't be able to afford a car.

[@dwayne7356]

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.

[@KGH3000]

@@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket Who is drilling holes in their car?

[@loggling5135]

@@KGH3000 When they want to modify it?

[@0000x0000referenced]

Corrosion in the air force is simple. Maintain corrosion control kit. Check for corrosion before every use. If no corrosion continue. If any corrosion exists scrape and clean and reapply coating. Then continue

[@zacharyreynolds4303]

@@KGH3000 the factory that makes it

[@TrickedHat]

@@KGH3000 me I have drilled holes in my car before

[@cometor1]

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.

[@foty8679]

Also stainless steel is called Edelstahl (noble steel) because of this

[@JinKee]

Edelrost, edelrost every morning you greet me.

[@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.

[@erikziak1249]

An example of "These experts say it is infeasible due to specific risks, get me another experts!" attidute, used way too often not just by politicians. Eventually they will find the right "experts" who are willing to put their career at risk. Structural engineers are under a lot of pressure and some of them take the risk. That is why some buildings collapse even during the construction phase. Those engineers will loose their license and can be prosecuted and evengo to jail. The arrogance of some "investors" is mind-blowing. They literally say "I do not care about your opinion, I care about your stamp of approval on my project. Either you give it to me or I will find another structural engineer who will."

[@Kashed]

@@erikziak1249 Amen. I agree. The problem with engineers or developers who have that attitude is a lot of times by the time accidents do occur the engineer may have retired, or the company may have folded and unless someone is around to be held accountable, the blame often does not result in loss of license, cost recovery or actual jail time.

[@erikziak1249]

@@Kashed The problem is that after a collapse it is hard to to prove if the loads on the structure did not exceed limits set by the engineer, espcially for prolonged time. If the building owner ignores e.g. how much load he can put on a square area of floors in rooms, decides to build a server room with big and heavy emergency accumulators and exceeds the structural design, then it can turn into a blame game, one side claiming not being informed properly, the other claiming to have provided everything, then even a third side that actually built the thing, then fourth side who were hired to make sure it gets build according to plan (and that no unauthorised changes were made during construction)... It can take years to decide who, where and when made a mistake. As in so many major disasters, it boils down to a chain of little "mistakes", each of which, if left alone, would not cause a disaster. E.g. the structural engineer designs something according to some specific load requirements. These get exceed over prolonged times. The constructor uses a lower quality and cheaper material, which the structural engineer in itself did approve after lowering the desired max. load of the structure. The comany supplying structural elements decides to use a technologically inferior, but cheaper process. Their engineers do the math and it all checks out, so the project is changed while construction is ongoing. Then the builder, going for the cheapest option, does not take neccessary time for technological processes, which result in temporal overstressing of some elemtents which might cause hidden damage. The construction inspector does not notice this, because it is outside the view and he cannot be 24 hours on site and even if, it is impossible to check everything. The biggest issue is when warning signs are being ignored. If you see cracks forming, gaps, sagging, etc. I have seen cases where such warning signs were observed, but nothing catastrophic happened, because immediate action was taken. It resulted in demolition and financial loss, but it is still better than to have a disaster with lots of lawsuits.

[@introprospector]

He said it was "caused by rust" which just isn't accurate. It wasn't a technical problem, because technical solutions existed that they chose not to implement. It's a social problem caused by malicious neglect.

[@jimh472]

@@introprospector That statement might have been based on what's been allowed to remain in the public record. Most of us suspect the truth is closer to what folks like @Kash already know. The sad overriding fact is thanks to our complacency decision makers don't have a healthy fear of being held accountable.

[@mikeb.2166]

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.

[@davidschwartz8125]

PBS covering it in even more excruciating detail. So never forget them.

[@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.

[@TheJf89]

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!

[@kirstenspencer3630]

Exactly, well said

[@N1njaSnake]

Agreed! But I want more crane content when were through with rust.

[@paulinbrooklyn]

Great comment! I agree and have been a subscriber for years. He's also not greedy with the length of his videos, in contrast to others who cultivate a following and then balloon the length of their videos without increasing the intellectual content thereof.

[@Jay22222]

@@N1njaSnake I need rusty cranes... But if I know Grady, and parasocially, I know Grady... we’re going to get some rusty cranes.. I hope.

More like God tier

[@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.

[@matthewmullin8168]

Short term gains, long term horrors

[@naamadossantossilva4736]

$100/day for me,$600 million cost for everyone else.Makes perfect sense if you are a swamp rat.

[@jaylay2964]

Flint was a case of corruption, not just bad management of infrastructure

[@thomast4315]

When you say "The City of Flint decided..." I assume you mean the state appointed emergency manager. Local officials had no power to decide such a thing.

[@MrGeocidal]

Politicians will cry crocodile tears over the fate of the unborn but the will cheerfully expose growing children to lead in their drinking water.

[@somebod8703]

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.

[@Highlandword9]

Wow

[@noemierollindedebeaumont1130]

In just a day ? That is some incredibly corrosive stuff ! Do you remember what they did to fix the problem ?

[@somebod8703]

@@noemierollindedebeaumont1130 I didn't follow up with that, as it wasn't the topic at that point (I'm not a chemist). But I think he said that the problem was caused by a slight mismatch in concentrations of different agents, so they probably fixed that somehow.

[@Pyrochemik007]

@@noemierollindedebeaumont1130 Hi, it may have been hydrochloric acid plant. That thing eats metals like cookie monster eats cookies. The way to avoid damage is using ceramic piping, those are eternal, but prone to leaks. The simplest solution is using PVC, but that cant be exposed to heat, as it gets too soft, plus big downside is the flammability. In other chemical plants is often used titanium since it is chemicaly inert, with exception of chlorine. Obviously, glass pipes are also an option.

[@nickgandy3]

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

[@ambitionsskyyyy]

Hi Nick what sort of structures do you inspect? I always think wether and if there are people employed by the local council or authorities which check random structures to determine how safe it is.

[@nickgandy3]

@@ambitionsskyyyy I work for a private company we inspect anything really thats concrete or corrosive. From buildings, sky scrapers, cast iron bridges and even under ground so things like underground concrete support collums for example. Some work is requested by local authorities but also private companies which own said building etc

[@evergreenappreciator]

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

[@gus473]

😅 Grab the wire brush and keep at it! 😉✌🏼

[@Jay22222]

We’re always glad to see you covered in corrosion too Seán

[@mabamabam]

I think it's you who should be covering corrosion. Back on that needle gun

[@enalaxable]

I bet you use passive alloy electrodes by the ton. Is lead /zinc still used for corrosion protection at sea?

[@nmccw3245]

Break out the needle scaler and the painting gear.

[@kenschaefer7625]

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."

[@RCAvhstape]

Navy/Marine Corps also call it "Crud". Corrosion control on aircraft is given lots of emphasis, especially when your aircraft operate off of ships or low over the sea. One Marine Corps air base I was at I remember there was a sort of wash system we called the "bird bath": after landing, every airplane would taxi through it like a drive-through car wash and it would spray water over the whole aircraft to rinse the salt off of it, through the jet engines, too.

[@gr6e]

I've visited a few of the missleman sites, very cool engineering involved

[@NeutroniummAlchemist]

@@RCAvhstape Yep. Our unit found that de-ionized water really helped. We just used a spray truck though.

[@mikeh2520]

When I was a young guy in the late 1980's I got to work on the Hawaii Aloha Stadium rust remediation project. This stadium was famous for hosting the NFL Pro Bowl for many years. It was built of the Corten steel and with little regard for standing water accumulation in areas. I got to see the whole stadium from top to bottom and the ambient sea salt embedded in the local trade winds did quick work of rusting out that structure. They had then sand blasted it all, coated it with epoxy paint and modified parts of it to eliminate standing water. Today they want to tear it down for corrosion reasons so the fix didn't last long. Corten steel may work well in the US midwest but Hawaii and other coastal areas are a special case. On the East windward side of the island, I've seen 5 year old cars with rust holes on the roof and doors just from the salt in the air.

[@NightMotorcyclist]

I work in transit infrastructure for NYC and rust is a massive issue especially after winter storms where salt use was rather high and we're playing catch up due to the red tape and work restrictions imposed on us.

[@AJ-ln4sm]

I'm an automotive mechanic, I fight the battle with corrosion every day! Great video

[@rodchallis8031]

Doing small repairs on my own cars over the decades, nothing filled me with dread more than a rusted Phillips screw head.

[@shiptj01]

Thank you for your service!

[@RCAvhstape]

I used to think that as long as I took care of my truck mechanically it'd last forever, but body corrosion sneaks up on you and has to be addressed, especially if you live where they salt the roads in winter. If you buy a new or lightly used car, take it to a competent body shop immediately and get it undercoated and treated.

[@lukeb6394]

"You're here for engineering not for chemistry" bro I'm hear to listen to a smart guy talk about his passion! Love the videos keep them coming

[@hurlaky43]

My degree in chemical engineering led to a career as a corrosion engineer, so I’m here for it!

[@adamgh0]

5:16 I've dealt with galvanic corrosion a few times myself, both from screwing aluminum fittings onto brass ones. I replaced my plastic valve caps with "chrome" ones because they looked nice. After a few months of winter driving conditions I had to use vice grips to unscrew them. I also screwed an aluminum garden hose coupler to a brass tap. It seized up so bad that I needed a pipe wrench with a cheater bar to break it loose.

[@stepheneyles2198]

I don't normally watch sponsor messages on KZbin videos, but it's so nice to see Brady's family happily enjoying their time together! Long may it continue Oh yes, the subject is super-interesting as well, looking forward to the rest of the series...

[@ianlehman8342]

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

[@fakinyamo]

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

[@nathanazaredo286]

What's your thoughts on aluminium sections being used as a structural support frame for decking?

[@coachmcguirk6297]

@@jdavis37378 I'm not an expert on corrosives but I can tell you're toxic.

[@antonvonmanheim4653]

So what's best for car undercarriages?

[@whotookthacookie]

@@jdavis37378 How do you know lol

[@drsal89]

As an orthopedic surgeon, i find this video very informative. Galvanized type of corrosion is of importance in our practice (metal on metal arthroplasty)

[@redbeard0042]

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

[@OrigamiMarie]

I lived in Rancho Cordova when the Folsom Dam door broke / jammed. My house had its back yard against one of the areas of park that surround the American River, and my mom and I would walk through the park (it was one of the wider areas of park -- so no danger to the house when the dam went) down to the river. I wasn't near the river at the time, but my mom was, and she said they sent helicopters along the river to warn swimmers to get out of the river before the extra water came.

[@NicholasLittlejohn]

Wow, yes, many parks are floodplains to protect us

[@70stastic]

Whether sandblasting wheels, extracting broken-off bolts, or getting the green corrosion off of circuit board components, I think many people have never really correlated just how much time they've spent dealing with rust

[@stargazer2504]

Yup. Until you need to paint some bare steel (on something you want to last a long time, and with a nice finish) you don't realize how difficult rust is. I remember as an aircraft tech, Cessna had a 1 hour rule for coating some steel parts- Maintenance manuals stated if you were removing corrosion (by sanding or whatever), you MUST paint the surface within 1 hour, otherwise the rust would have taken over too much for the paint to be of high enough quality for the task. I mean, rust basically begins immediately on a microscopic level, but they determined the average 1 hour exposure would be ok.

[@AtlasJotun]

Even in semi-arid Colorado it's a pain... when cars come in from the rust belt or either coast! RIP rotted-away frames and bodies, the car-cancer took you too soon. Sometimes people coat their undercarriages with a rubberized coating, which is a horrifically bad idea as it will eventually trap water against the frame and not only guarantee heavy corrosion, but also cover it up so it's less likely to be to detected until bigger problems arise. Ironically, the purpose of 'undercoating' one's car is to prevent rust.

[@tristankordek]

4:43 You show us great things, such as this model of the bridge in the aquarium, but sometimes you also get another beautiful view, such as the one with the bridge over the canyon. Thank you for your great videos.

[@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.

[@abpsd73]

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?

[@PierceMD]

Sounds like Ontario, Quebec

[@darkshadowsx5949]

@@PierceMD and michigan, usa Its like planned obsolescence except nature is the cause instead of a planned design flaw. id pay more for galvanized steel or aluminum body just for longevity. it saves more in the long run even if your not the owner for the life of the vehicle. rust can weaken the structure and an impact to a weakened structure is more often deadly.

[@becauseimafan]

Maybe you missed it: Early in the video, he said that this is the *first* in a new *series on corrosion*

[@ano_nym]

@@PierceMD it's in the whole world that has real winters. t. Swede

[@slartibartfast2649]

@DarkShadowsX5 I have the same issue and so I paint the underside of my chassis with a thick coating of used engine oil before the salt season sets in. It doesn't entirely stop it, but it definitely helps.

[@51rwyatt]

I was involved in a legal case involving corrosion of bolts on rigs in the Gulf. The corrosion was called "hydrogen embrittlement" and wasn't what people normally think of as "rust" but something interesting about how seawater, salt, electrons, etc. affect metal. Really cool.

[@mangamaster03]

That has caused at least one of the USCSB disaster investigation videos.

[@skrimper]

@@mangamaster03 thought it sounded familiar lol

[@kennethferland5579]

Hydrogen embrittlement is one of the reasons all that 'hydrogen economy' stuff is a dead-end.

[@xponen]

​@@kennethferland5579 no, to store hydrogen gas but also prevent its contact with the steel tank the solution is simply coat the steel tank with plastic or rubber.

[@flinch622]

Some of those things are true, and some of them are the "clever" that didn't do their full research. Certain higher strength metals can only be torqued half as often before needing to be discarded - yet would pass a visual inspection every time.

[@JamesShipman]

Love your videos. The number of times you’ve introduced something I didn’t even know was a thing … There is a high chance anytime I watch a new video of yours my world gets larger and sublimely more complex and interesting. Thank you so much 🎉

[@BuildSomethingAuto]

Awesome video! Here's a few nitpicky minor corrections if anyone wants to further nerd-out about corrosion 🤣. 3:25 the process you're describing is called galvanic corrosion but technically not "all" corrosion works this way. There is also corrosion due to microbial growth called biological corrosion where little monsters eat your metal. Additionally there's many types of plain old erosion which is essentially mechanical wear. 7:36 the galvanized bolt doesn't resist corrosion through passivation (but the other metals mentioned do). Galvanization is a zinc coating process where the zinc is used a sacrificial anode. Rather than passivizing it does the opposite, it corrodes very easily! So easily in fact that it corrodes preferentially over the base metal and the base metal is protected. This is why galvanized coatings need redone over time. Other examples of the use of sacrificial anodes includes sacrificial magnesium blocks stuck to ship hulls to help the hull avoid corroding in salt water.

[@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.

[@KarlKarpfen]

Small correction: Stainless steels don't contain "sometimes even as much as 10% of chromium and nickel", but at least 12% of chromium to achieve the "stainless" property of a chromium oxide layer on the surface. Steel with less than 12% chromium aren't stainless.

[@dontkillmejay8570]

Stainless Steels have a minimum of 10.5% Chromium.

[@whatbroicanhave50character35]

@@dontkillmejay8570 you're both arguing the same thing and you're both (partially) correct. There are different types of stainless steel that have different amounts of chromium and nickel. 304 and 316 stainless are going to have different chromium content. Stainless can have anywhere from 10.5 to 30 percent chromium.

[@dontkillmejay8570]

@@whatbroicanhave50character35 Neither are partially correct. I stated that 10.5% chromium is the minimum amount for stainless steel, which you said is correct. He said that anything under 12% chromium isn't stainless steel, which isn't correct.

[@JeanFrancoisDesrosiers]

And if "trillions of dollars" are spent on corrosion problems, same trillions are saved (initially) by not using stainless.

[@skrimper]

@@dontkillmejay8570 exactly

[@overclockeverything2310]

I work for Rust-Oleum, and to see how they test corrosion resistance of different paints and enamels in the lab is quite interesting.

[@mikelang4191]

It's pretty much impossible to overstate how brilliantly you've distilled the essence of the impact of corrosion. Top notch presentation!

[@heathbarnhart1092]

You know you a nerd when you get excited by 3 part series on corrosion. :)

[@panosvrionis8548]

😂😂 Am I ?? 😢😢

[@skrimper]

@@panosvrionis8548 don't be sad, being a "nerd" is cool and superior 😎

[@panosvrionis8548]

@@skrimper there is a but🙂. 👻 you don't have to be nerd to be curious about stuff . It offers a better understanding about the world we living 😉😉

[@kandkmotorsports]

Fantastic video! I was a mechanic in upstate NY(salt, lots of salt) for 28 years, battling rust was never ending! 20 of those years were spent as a fleet mechanic on school buses. We would spec our buses with SS exhaust , extra rust prevention sprays, keep anything you want to take apart someday greased or oiled. The upfront cost was higher but it paid off in the long term. I often wondered how much more people in Northern climates spent on rust repair and/or vehicle replacement vs southern climates.

[@DaDaDo661]

It's rare for a car to go more than 12 years in the rust belt. And in the later years of its lifetime you'll probably replace most of the exhaust and subframe. At least where I'm from

[@aldenconsolver3428]

OH YEAH, love it. Spent tons of days fighting corrosion of every kind. Most people do not understand what a pain that is, even working on a new car versus one a couple years old, the older one is just a nightmare from corrosion. Please make sure you cover the things you can use to control corrosion when building and assembling.

[@thundercricket4634]

I remember reading as a kid that the American armed forces single biggest expenditure was rust prevention epair. It was in a Popular Science magazine if I remember correctly. The article was discussing a kind of "Smart Paint" that (If it worked as intended) would actually have fairly extensive self repair capacity, so as to minimize any time bare metal made contact with the outside air.

[@NeutroniummAlchemist]

I used to work on military helicopters. Corrosion was a massive problem, since they would like to fly low near the ocean, and they are built of many dissimilar metals. They found that they could mitigate the corrosion by spraying them with de-ionized water after every flight. Once they started doing that, the really badly corroded screws that I used to fight with in the avionics bay become a lot less troublesome.

[@JS-jh4cy]

How do you de-ionize water, ? Hook up a battery and put a wire charged mesh over the whole helicopter?

[@NeutroniummAlchemist]

@@JS-jh4cy You can use a filter. You can also distil it, but that's much more expensive.

[@luisderivas6005]

@@JS-jh4cy Organic materials and inorganic minerals are the most common impurities found in water. The organics can typically be removed via filtering methods, including physical filters, carbon filters, and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. After this pre-treatment, the water is sent through a DI system, which contains two types of resin: cation and anion. These two resins attract positive and negative ions, respectively, replacing them with H+ and OH-. H+ combined with OH- becomes H2O - water. The combination of filters and DI resins can remove nearly all contaminants.

[@sleepisetime4377]

There was one thing that may have made the rusting in the bolt demo worse that wasn't mentioned. As all the bolts were different materials they have very different electronegativities. This can promote corrosion due to the flow of electrons mentioned in the video being much easier between these dissimilar materials. Interestingly we can actually exploit this tendency for corrosion between dissimilar materials by having a sacrificial material more prone to corrosion present in a system. This sacrificial material will preferentially corrode ensuring helping the extend the lifespan of the rest of the system

[@dewiz9596]

Hence, galvanized steel

[@moe.m]

This will only have an effect, if the different materials are electrically connected, which was not the case here.

[@PyroDesu]

@@moe.m Salt water is conductive, so all the metals in the experiment were, in fact, electrically connected each other.

[@moe.m]

@@PyroDesu there needs to be an additional connection apart from the electrolyte. You need a path for the electrons.

[@jadenantal1652]

When I was a commercial diver, the dive hats had several sacraficial anodes on them. So that the cheap parts corroded before the $12k helmet

[@PeetPeeet]

Great video! It would be good to raise public awareness of issues like REACH - some of the best materials used to prevent corrosion are the most harmful and are being phased out very slooowly, e.g. chromium, cadmium platings, zinc chromate primers and paints. Makes for tricky engineering challenge and environmental conundrum.

[@cr3te]

Honestly top tier content and the most wholesome & thoughtful comments in response to the video. Outstanding work, Grady!

[@TrailsVonMudder]

As a bridge inspector, I am very excited for this series.

[@KawdoruTaon]

How does it feel, to be a foundation of modern society?

[@TrailsVonMudder]

@@KawdoruTaon feels rather load-bearing

[@katarjin]

Boy I hope you never end up looking at the Thomas Johnson bridge near me...needs so much work.

[@darksu6947]

@@TrailsVonMudder Hopefully you won't have any catastrophic failures.

[@randyingersoll887]

I live in the Daytona Beach, Florida area and work in the hardware industry. The corrosion problem along our beach is worse than anywhere. Customer ask for locks that won't rust. Our common answer is, 'In this area, beachside, everything corrodes!" Even 'Lifetime Finish' hardware only lasts a few years. Thanks for another great video! I could listen to you talk for hours. As an aside, the building next to us had a metal roof installed with the planned corrosion protection. It took about three weeks for the corrosion to take over, but the resulting rusty look is both aesthetically pleasing and seems to stop the uncontrollable corrosion.

[@h.r.hufnstuf4171]

One time I popped a rust bubble on a really old pier and it blasted stinky water on my face.

[@defritzel]

I teach corrosion causes, repair, and prevention to my aviation students. It's nice to hear someone speak on the topic with actual experience and proper knowledge. Even some of the textbooks we use are incorrect. Good stuff!

[@TheRedWon]

My favorite thing about this channel is that you make videos on things that I have never considered and yet are all around me. The things that we take for granted are so fascinating.

[@Ntmoffi]

Depending on things to just work even after 40 years makes me worried. Especially for stuff in my district lol.

[@dipro001]

This is excellent educational content. Thank you for making this. I want all school classrooms to teach this.

[@justaprogrammer3764]

I want a million dollars

[@DarkMeta_Minecraft]

The most mindblowing thing to me was watching a "non corrosive" stainless steel electrode turn brown, black, then disintegrate and dissolve into a super saturated saltwater solution when i put 14V at 10 Amps through it 😂 It was like watching kool aid powder disappear into water but it was a solid thick chunk of stainless steel, just dissolving away. Very strange to see lol

[@TaserFish-qn2xy]

Why'd you dump that much power through salt ? Electrolysis maybe ?

[@GeekCatholic]

Thanks for making this! A pandemic project of mine was fixing a rusted out hole in my car's body, caused by water pooling there. I was very worried that I would do all the work and rust would just come back, so I had to do a ton of research on automotive coatings to understand how to keep rust away. Very interesting stuff!

[@redeyedfreaks]

What coatings did you eventually settle on using? I've also got a rusty car lol

[@ianmoore322]

I would also like to know. Fluidfilm?

[@darksu6947]

Por 15 is fantastic for rust prevention. My father has ran a body shop for the last 40 years and we talk everyday so I've learned a little bit about these sorts of things.

[@baconmcbacon62]

Grady’s videos are always some of the best on YT! I’m glad he covered corrosion. I was getting a little rusty on some of the details.

[@dewiz9596]

Saw what ya did there 😉

[@Vigo327]

Another good one. Glad there's a whole series following this as there seems like a lot to know, even as just an introductory look. Looking forward to that book i pre-ordered. 👍

[@BS-my2ky]

So excited to see this series just right at the time I'm studying redox, and cyclic voltammetry.

[@Flameheadwilson]

When I was in the Navy, we cleaned up some rust on the deck plates and chased it almost all the way through the deck plate AND the mount for one of our air compressors.

[@alexcyburt9908]

I work as an engineer in a large metals recycling company. Corrosion has always been fascinating to me- not just in the materials that people bring in to the scrap yards but even in our own processing equipment. Scrap metal processing is very abusive to equipment, and when paired with corrosion over decades some of the wear and tear that you see is mind boggling. We have repaired equipment that required thousands of pounds of rust to be removed. Hell we have had trailers that once the rust was removed, you could practically see through the web of the structural beams.

[@lindboknifeandtool]

All those oxides are rough. Especially since aluminum oxide is what the abrasive in most sandpaper is made from. I always go to the recycling plant for their large bandsaw blades. They always throw me extra scrap when I tell them I’m making knives. Always good people.

[@ellenc2527]

Love your videos Grady, I recommend them in the field all the time! Thank you for all your dedication!

[@akoznasovajusername]

All I can say about the rust issues is that in the most situations people could prevent them just by a regular maintenance. That would be by far the easiest and cheapest solution.

[@evannibbe9375]

If you are someone who measures cost in terms of getting more votes than the other guy, like most politicians, the budgetary costs of rust aren’t as much as not focusing on wedge social issues in terms of the attention:votes ratio.

[@aaronbaird3533]

Working in a salt factory corrosion is a daily part of my life. Thanks for bringing the topic to a broader audience!

[@splintmeow4723]

Oh dear. That would be a nightmare ❤. For sailors it is such a headache too.

[@tvathome562]

I always wondered why they used cast iron man whole covers and drain grates without them rusting away. Passivation! Thanks Brady.. Another one for the pub quiz, should it ever come up again!

[@JulieWallis1963]

*manhole*

[@nameloading9986]

Haven’t seen one of your vids in a while, but you still got it!! Phenomenal video and topic. Hope the fam is doing great! Please keep the incredible content coming

[@foranken]

Always learn some thing from your videos, and I appreciate them. Side note: I actually watched the end portion which was your commercial for Hello Fresh. Very nicely done, I watched it because you guys are REAL, and having fun. Thanks.

[@automotivetales]

I really wish this sort of content was available when I was a kid - I’d have learnt so much ahead of going to university to study engineering!

[@jerrymiller2367]

I'm glad I'm learning it now, better late than never. I'd like to go BACK to school to be an engineer, but I'm too old.

[@Faunarr]

@@jerrymiller2367 you're never too old. One of my fellow students is in his 60s and just finished his master's degree iirc

[@boby115]

Great video👍. I’ve been in the natural gas utility business for over 35 years, where we eat, sleep and sh** cathodic protection. Some of the biggest problems I’ve seen are on the customer’s underground installations. From industrial all the way down to residential It appears the contractors just don’t get it. We were finding so many problems with customer owned underground installations that the public service commission of Missouri required the gas utilities to replace any leaking residential yard lines free of cost (installing a new gas service and setting a meter at the outside wall of the home or building. Industrial and commercial would just get a big lock and a red tag (they could always hire us or pay A licensed mechanical contractor); in the winter time they would get the idea real quick. When it comes to corrosion, we learn more from our failures than we do our successes.

[@jerrymiller2367]

As in so many areas of life, unfortunately. And many people don't learn from failures, either.

[@boby115]

@@jerrymiller2367 , There’s an old joke in structural engineering, mind you it’s just a joke. “ You should never hire A civil engineer who hasn’t had at least one bridge fall down, because he or she is over designing. But you should never hire one that’s had two fall down ,because they haven’t learned.” I think there is no substitute for investigating failures in the field. In fact creating controlled failures can push the technology to see what it takes to fail and use the real world incidents to help us build better requirements and standards.

[@Vir9il]

@@boby115 Interesting joke. What does "over designing" mean in this context?

[@boby115]

@@Vir9il , tell me what you think it means ? Keeping in mind the word money ($$$$).

[@Vir9il]

@@boby115 They designed a bridge to be so robust that it's likely to never fail? That's a good thing. But the potential downside, I guess, is that it uses more material / costlier construction methods than are strictly necessary? So the lesson of the joke is that engineers should aim to design bridges that are as cheap as possible, but no cheaper, so that they are just barely robust enough to not collapse? That making a bridge with larger safety margins is a bad idea, because we as a society don't want to pay for it?

[@tedfisk1211]

very informative and educational. I have always seen rust in and on many things, but the process of how it occurs is new to me. Thank you Grady.

[@entropyachieved750]

Love this channel and the topics are always well presented and interesting. Great work Grady. Hello from Australia

[@DarkKuroshima]

Thank you so much for starting this series! I’m actually about to complete my bachelors degree in Materials Engineering. As such, I do a lot of work with corrosion engineering and I find it crazy how little the corrosion is talked about when it happen SO MUCH. So I’m really looking forward to this series!

[@MrZeegolden]

Wow I was just thinking about the effects of rust an hour ago. Trying to figure out how the water tank at the Starbase launch pad was able to rust from the inside out. Hopefully this video will answer something for me!

[@satibel]

Did you know that your water heater had a rod that's made to corrode instead of the walls? Also water has dissolved gases, which is why if you boil water in the microwave it may taste different, because they come out of solution, and pouring it back and forth between two glasses changes it back. Those dissolved gases include oxygen, which is partially why there's corrosion inside water.

[@PB-om4ml]

@goldenboy I drove by Starbase from South Padre Island last week and was confounded how EVERYTHING does not rust. It’s surrounded by corrosive sand, corrosive seawater, and just a few hundred meters from the ocean. I’m sure they have to be by the ocean for dropping things like boosters, but it seems like an incredibly corrosive environment for that high-tech machinery to be.

[@killman369547]

@@satibel Sacrificial anodes, ships use them a lot to prevent corrosion of their hulls as well.

[@satibel]

@@killman369547 didn't know ships had those too, thanks. Apparently there's also ICCP which makes it so there's a net 0 current on the hull by measuring the corrosion current and applying the invert of it with an anode that doesn't corrode like platinum.

[@r0cketplumber]

In addition to sacrificial anodes, active anodes with a small power supply going into a titanium anode can last for decades without maintenance and prevents the generation of H2S from the chemical reaction on magnesium anodes. These are very popular for areas where well water has significant dissolved iron and sulfur.

[@liebesonne_]

Ok, I love these videos and learning about all the different topics you present. But oh my gosh - your family is just so cute!

[@petarbabic9409]

Great Video Grady! Can't wait to watch the whole series!

[@Linyzas]

In Lithuania just today we have had a small dam spillway failed and collapsed. Ended up raising water level of the river below reservoir by 3.5meters, which was 0.5m away from flooding local town. The spillway was partly closed by adding plate shields as a short term mitigation.

[@ChayDenne]

Ive been watching you for years, I love your videos so much! They have helped me learn many things about my own builds

[@currentresident7760]

've been working at a body shop for a bit now and extra tips I learned was if you're painting the door, it's better to take off the mirror and belt molding (the trim at the bottom of the window) for a better paint job in the end. The mirror can get in the way, and if you're unlucky, the clear coat could stick in that gap between the door and the belt molding.

[@georgiaguardian4696]

This is one of the more obscure but very useful and interesting topic! I battle rust on my bikes and mechanical collections all the time on weekly basis!

[@aaronfaucett6442]

Your videos are relaxing. You have a calm voice, and the little jingle you play in between is relaxing too

[@baivulcho]

Everyone: "Nobody would be interested in 3 part series about rust" Brady: "Hold my hard hat" 1 hour later: 40k views

[@orsaz924]

This is hands down one of the best science channels I've ever had the pleasure to discover 👍👍 You're really good at popularising science in an entertaining way, Grady. Great video, btw!

[@gregmacdonald2237]

Great video topic! A typical subtle problem that can / often strikes suddenly. We had a flood in our house after a corroded bolt holding the toilet tank to the base failed creating a leak from the tank that ran for hours.

[@michaelcarey]

Great video! I spent over 30 years working in the marine electronics industry, mainly working on fishing boats. You had to be VERY away of galvanic corrosion between different metals and the issue of having DC current flowing through parts of the ships structure. It doesn't take long for a small strand of a copper cable to work its way through an aluminum hull, especially in the bilge which is usually full of salty water. Bonding different metals together in a perpetually salty damp environment needed special attention.

[@danwittels5542]

Unfortunately, it depends on where your 316 stainless steel bolt came from. Proper 316 should not corrode or stain in salt water. As someone who uses a fair amount of 316 faseners in coastal construction, I've seen quite a bit of variability in quality. 304 holds up pretty well, if it's all you can get, but it will stain over time. Nice video, looking forward to the rest of the series.

[@Blox117]

he probably found it on the floor lmao

[@davidcoghill8612]

"316 doesnt corrode in salt water" is a bit of a myth really. In open freely circulating and cool salt water it is generally OK, but there are lots of contributing factors that can cause it to corrode (crevices, tropical temperatures, bio-films, etc.) It's safe in general construction, but very high value or safety critical applications such as oil rigs have very strict conditions for the use of 316 in raw seawater such as it having to be under cathodic protection.

[@theknifedude1881]

Thanks for the info. This was a really enjoyable video.

[@TheRimeOfTheAncientMariner]

Really enjoying your videos!

[@Henry_Jones]

Henry Ford used lots of brass parts on the model A for a reason.

[@CanoeBoi]

I hope you'll talk about non-destructive testing. It's super interesting and a necessity for a LOT of infrastructures, refineries, dams, power plants, pipelines, oil rigs, cars, planes, rockets and so on! It's main purpose is to detect defects in metals (and less often in other materials like concrete) and prevent damage mainly caused by stress and corrosion!

[@VantageWelding]

Working in a Chlor Alkali evap unit, I know first hand the huge issue corrosion really is. Thank you guys for this video. I learned so much.

[@theredbaron057]

This was a fascinating episode, thank you

[@Zappygunshot]

Also fun to remember is that batteries thus far have mostly been essentially 'controlled corrosion'. There's a few alternatives - you could argue hydroelectric dams are a form of battery for example - but when we think of a battery, we think of the lithium-ion ones, or at least devices that use the same method of connecting two differently charged bits in an electrolytic substance with an electrically conductive wire. -It's more complicated than that, I know, but that's sort of the gist of it-

[@Reziac]

In case you're wondering, the strikeout happens when you have double hyphens touching a word.

[@joshuaiyanuloluwa2256]

A-a

[@joshuaiyanuloluwa2256]

-Place-

[@joshuaiyanuloluwa2256]

@@Reziac thanks man, got it on the second try 😅

[@Reziac]

@@joshuaiyanuloluwa2256 Underscore touching a word is italics, asterisk is bold. Probably others I haven't discovered. Cheers!

[@AlexApol]

That walled stool for your kid is a neat idea! Never seen one of those before.

[@TheClintonio]

8:44 that bridge is so nostalgic to me. I used to walk past that ruin every day to work.

[@dbayboyds409]

Really looking forward to this series!

[@DomoKuchikan]

I'll be sipping on my WD-40 while watching the videos from this series. Can't wait!

[@dustman96]

As someone who does a lot of plumbing, I really appreciate this video. A significant portion of the plumbing work I do is because corrosion wasn't taken into account.

[@jeffmcdonald101]

Awesome. Will share this with my dad. He lives 20m from the breaking waves and we joke his house is seaworthy. He's such a corrosion nerd after 50 years in civil construction. Thanks mate, I enjoy every one as a mech eng should!

[@herbertromanski9045]

wholesome Grady, good work on those videos, please keep on making them

[@Dostwyn]

Architecture students at my former university had designed a small building the size of two shipping containers that included a fassade of what we assumed is Corten steel, since it began to rust pretty quickly. However, the building had a design flaw: The students had decided to only use the fassade on the second floor, while the walls of the first floor were entirely made of glass. When it rained, a bit of the rust came off and ran down the side of the building, leaving ugly traces of rust all over the glass panels. It looked really bad.

[@timmccormack3930]

Oh yeah, I think he mentioned that downside in another video, and I was surprised he didn't mention it again. The rust stains can be pretty astonishing.

[@jerrymiller2367]

It's better they learn those lessons in architecture school than out in the real world.

[@Gunbudder]

I was always fascinated with sacrificial metal pieces on bridges and on ships. even after learning how they work, it still seems like black magic!

[@AgentOffice]

They're also in water heaters

[@curtiss5781]

@@AgentOffice do people know to change these??

[@AgentOffice]

@@curtiss5781 yes there's videos about it

[@The24thWight]

I forgot about this channel i absolutely LOVE this.

[@mikuelable]

Thanks for this series I always wanted a detailed video on the engineering of rust

[@eaglescout1984]

The amount of times I've seen copper or brass fittings screwed into steel or iron makes me realize how blind so many people are to how corrosion works

[@boby115]

Above ground not so much of a problem, below ground a big problem . In the gas industry brass valves are installed on steel pipe all the time with no problems above grade. Valves can also be manufactured with a steel housing & brass core (again very little to no problems). Aluminum gas meters are installed on steel meter bars (again very little to no problems). You have to dig a little deeper to know how corrosion works. You’re not wrong you just need to dive a little deeper and be more specific.

[@Mic_Glow]

Brass fittings (bolts?) in iron make sense. It wont "rust-weld" itself and the softer bolt won't damage threads on main part. Important if the main part is big/ complicated/ expensive. Also cost/ material properties.... sometimes mixing is unavoidable. Just need to do it in proper order. copper-> brass-> steel is good transition for example.

[@PS-zw4yc]

Needs an electrolyte. If dry not a problem

[@Maghanashi]

Most people are told: "Screw this into this." They aren't blind, they just don't need to care.

[@boby115]

@@Maghanashi , The material being used should be long figured out before the person doing the deed installs it. They should definitely be bringing up any concerns they may have when installing (Communication, communication, communication).