text: In the year 1995, it was reported that the costs of corrosion nationwide in the USA were nearly $300 billion per year. This confirmed earlier reports of damage to the world economy caused by corrosion.
  Zaki Ahmad, in his book Principles of corrosion engineering and corrosion control,
  states that "Corrosion engineering is the application of the principles evolved from corrosion science to minimize or prevent corrosion". Shreir et al. suggest likewise in their large, two volume work entitled Corrosion. Corrosion engineering involves designing of corrosion prevention schemes and implementation of specific codes and practices. Corrosion prevention measures, including Cathodic protection, designing to prevent corrosion and coating of structures fall within the regime of corrosion engineering.  However, corrosion science and engineering go hand-in-hand and they cannot be separated: it is a permanent marriage to produce new and better methods of protection from time to time. This may include the use of Corrosion inhibitors. In the Handbook of corrosion engineering, the author Pierre R. Roberge states "Corrosion is the destructive attack of a material by reaction with its environment.  The serious consequences of the corrosion process have become a problem of worldwide significance."
  Costs are not only monetary. There is a financial cost and also a waste of natural resources. In 1988 it was estimated that one tonne of metal was converted completely to rust every ninety seconds in the United Kingdom. There is also the cost of human lives. Failure whether catastrophic or otherwise due to corrosion has cost human lives.