Packaging for industrial products - Climatic and physico-chemical protection

The destruction of materials due to climatic and physical-chemical constraints is costing the world economy dearly.

All materials used in equipment are subject to degradation as a result of environmental or physical/chemical aggression. The result of these stresses is mechanical and climatic erosion, as well as physico-chemical corrosion:

• erosion affects everything that is subject to the outside atmosphere (for example, the sand wind is very harmful to materials stored outdoors);

• Differences in temperature cause variations in the volume of materials, with heat and cold acting on the expansion of the various components, deforming or destroying them;

• Solar radiation is also harmful to most materials;

• frost has a significant effect on all porous materials.

Micro-organisms, insects and rodents are also agents of degradation that need to be taken into account.

In addition, new constraints need to be taken into account when it comes to protecting electronic equipment, such as those caused by static electricity, electromagnetic or radioactive radiation.

But the most aggressive degradation agent for materials made of metals is water, which acts on them in the form of wet corrosion.

The aim of this article is to analyze the climatic and physico-chemical risks involved, and to look at possible methods of protection.