4. Conclusion

This article is intended as an introduction to the problems posed by the use of metallic materials in a marine environment. Whole works are regularly devoted to the different forms that corrosion can adopt in these very particular environments, and we do not claim to be able to cover everything in just a few pages. Our aim here is to show that, in addition to the chloride ion, which is the main cause of the environment’s aggressiveness, many other factors come into play over the course of the process. To explain this clearly and make the reader aware of the issues, some basic theoretical concepts have had to be discussed more fully.

We want to stress how essential it is for an engineer who needs to resolve or anticipate corrosion problems in a marine environment to have good knowledge not only of the metallic materials that can be used...