• Rust, or oxidation, is corrosion that occurs when iron is exposed to oxygen.rust image by jamalula from Fotolia.com
  
  Corrosion is a natural process that occurs when a material breaks down because of exposure to the elements or chemicals in the environment that cause a reaction. Rust is one of the most common forms of corrosion. Although minor corrosion is often easy to repair, there are steps you can take to prevent corrosion from occurring in the first place.
  
  

Avoidance and Cleaning

• One of the simplest ways to avoid corrosion is to keep surfaces clean and prevent contaminants and chemicals in the environment from being deposited on them. In the case of a car, this can mean regular washes and wax treatments to remove salts and other contaminants from the metallic surfaces. For other materials, avoiding moisture by using an air-tight seal or climate-controlled storage facility can keep corrosion from forming indefinitely.
  
  

Galvanizing

• Galvanizing is a process for applying another martial over the top of an existing surface using a chemical process to form a bond between them. Galvanized steel, for example, is coated with iron or zinc and will resist corrosion far longer than untreated steel.
  
  

Painting

• Another method for preventing corrosion is applying a layer of paint or clear coat to a surface. This is what automakers do when they apply undercoating to the exposed metal on the bottom of a car or several layers of clear top coat to the paint job. While paint will wear away over time with exposure to the elements, it may be much easier to apply a new layer of paint periodically than to clean a severely corroded surface.
  
  

Changing the Environment

• Another way to prevent corrosion is by altering the environment to remove or combat the chemicals that cause the corrosion process to happen in the first place. This can mean reducing overall pollution to take contaminants out of the air. In other cases, it may mean adding chemical inhibitors to an air or water supply to slow the effects of corrosion. For example, the same chemical additives in the water supply that form mineral deposits on faucets are actually added to prevent corrosion of pipes.