The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier was not even fully operational in the summer of 1966 when workers observed water boiling and bubbling in the vicinity of Cooling Water Canal, the water detour that serves the adjacent electric company. After some under-water reconnaissance, a diver reported that the 11Kv submarine cable system had corroded. John William Leslie, the Chief of the Engineering Division began contacting specialists on how best to repair the system. The Corps decided to employ a brand-new aluminum-based alloy sold only by the Dow Chemical Company. Dow had the market cornered on its Galvanum anodes, regardless a month after the washout was mended, Leslie circulated an invitation for bids to prevent further problems with the monopolized material. Why did Leslie choose a seemingly more expensive material? He understood the power of corrosion and the need to prevent it.

What is Corrosion?

Corrosion is the engineer's most unyielding enemy. The United States Department of Energy estimates that corrosion costs this country an amount equal to five percent of its Gross National Product. It does more economic damage than the effects of all natural disasters, including hurricanes, combined. As industrial conservation and adaptation builds steam, corrosion will become more and more significant in the preservation discourse. Many older metal components were fabricated too early to enjoy the developments of material science and will require innovative solutions to this problem. As such, it is important for preservationists to understand what corrosion is, and the innovations in the struggle against it.

Corrosion is the unfortunate consequence of metallurgy. Commercial and industrial metals occur in nature as ores, mixtures of metals in weaker usually more brittle forms. When we convert these raw materials into commercial metals we refine or alloy the material into a stronger, purer version of its natural state. This process requires energy, and as such, renders the material unstable or less-thermodynamically favorable. Metallurgy is like pushing a boulder up a hill and corrosion is like the falling of that boulder down the hill- it is the material's journey back to its natural, resting, thermodynamically favorable state.

There are a number of different types of corrosion. Precisely where demarcations are drawn depends on the author. The most significant forms for this discussion are crevice corrosion