Performing under pressure: Modeling oxidation in high-stress materials

Each year, the effects of corroding materials sap more than $1 trillion from the global economy. As certain alloys are exposed to extreme stress and temperatures, an oxide film begins to form, causing the alloys to break down even more quickly. What precisely makes these high-temperature, high-stress conditions so conducive for corrosion, however, remains poorly understood, especially in microelectromechanical devices. In the Journal of Applied Physics, Chinese researchers have started to chip a...