Residual ductility management and life‐predication

The surface science and engineering discipline has emerged recently and become more high‐profile. Functional performance of the surface is given top priority, although some of the bulk parameters play a very important role in the performance of the surface. Residual ductility is one such parameter, which directly controls the probability of surface embrittlement during the service stage of any engineering product, thereby controlling the embrittlement‐induced galvanic corrosion. Residual ductility also indirectly controls the metal dissolution in a corrosive environment by improving the adhesion of the corrosion product films to the surface. Discusses the role of residual ductility, in the control of environmentally induced deterioration of the metallic surfaces, highlighting the parameters which may eventually interfere with its level on the surface. Improvement of ductility also improves the attachment of the nearest neighbour elements of the matrix, resulting in the improvement of the surface stability. On the contrary, a brittle surface undergoes higher reactive interaction with the environment. Also discusses the possibility of using the residual ductility parameter for obtaining the rate values of an imaginary defect for subsequent extrapolation of the approximate residual life values of some carbon‐steel materials.