Interdependence of corrosion phenomena and mechanical factors acting on metals

The simultaneous progress of irreversible corrosion, plastic deformation, and adsorption processes is analyzed for the case of metals interacting with working media. The analysis is based on an expression obtained for the entropy production per unit time and on appropriate phenomenological equations quantitatively describing the interdependence of these processes and possible cross effects. The possibility of an autocatalytic mechanism of corrosion-mechanical fracture at the crack tip, resulting from a simultaneous influence of interlinked mechanicochemical and chemicomechanical effects and leading to spontaneous acceleration of crack growth, is postulated. A qualitative analysis is carried out of the dependence of the polarizability of metals on the magnitude of the deformation-induced shift in their electrode potentials. The role of surface and volume factors in the appearance of electromechanical heterogeniety of metals under strain is analyzed, and the nature of the reduction in the electron work function during plastic deformation of metals is discussed.