Poetry for the Metallurgist

posted September 2015

Sharing a poem that is on the bulletin board in our break room. Composed by R.B.Ross, author of  Investigating Mechanical Failures; the Metallurgists Approach (1995)

Rust’s a Must

Mighty ships upon the ocean
Suffer from severe corrosion;
Even those that stay at dock side
Are rapidly becoming oxide.
Alas, that piling in the sea
is mostly Fe2O3
‘Cause when the wind is salt and gusty
Things are getting awful rusty.

We can measure it, we can test it;
We can halt it or arrest it;
We can gather it and weigh it;
We can coat it, we can spray it;
We can examine and dissect it;
We can cathodically protect it.
We can pick it up and drop it
But heaven knows, we’ll never stop it.
So here’s to rust: no doubt about it,
Most of us would stave without it.

Filed under: Failure Analysis,