CORROSION OF METAL CONTAINERS

The corrosivity of the materials used for the fabrication of metal containers has always been an important consideration in the choice of these materials and the use to which they can be put. As far as this country is concerned, at any rate, tinplate is the material most commonly used for metal containers which are used for literally hundreds of different products, for each of which the tinplate/ product complex must be studied for possible harmful corrosive effects. In this article the author considers tinplate, ‘blackplate’ and aluminium in their roles as structural metals for containers, outlining their corrosion characteristics under varying conditions and reviewing the present state of knowledge of this important subject of metal container corrosion.