This work overviews a new, recent success of phase-field modelling: its application to predicting the evolution of the corrosion front and the associated structural integrity challenges. Despite its important implications for society, predicting corrosion damage has been an elusive goal for scientists and engineers. The application of phase-field modelling to corrosion not only enables tracking the electrolyte-metal interface but also provides an avenue to explicitly simulate the underlying mesoscale physical processes. This lays the grounds for developing the first generation of mechanistic corrosion models, which can capture key phenomena such as film rupture and repassivation, the transition from activation- to diffusion-controlled corrosion, interactions with mechanical fields, microstructural and electrochemical effects, intergranular corrosion, material biodegradation, and the interplay with other environmentally-assisted damage phenomena such as hydrogen embrittlement.

翻译：本文综述了相场建模近期取得的一项新成就：其在预测腐蚀前沿演化及相关结构完整性挑战方面的应用。尽管腐蚀预测对社会具有重要意义，但这一目标长期以来令科学家和工程师难以企及。相场建模在腐蚀领域的应用不仅能够追踪电解质-金属界面，还为显式模拟介观尺度下的物理过程提供了途径。这为开发第一代机理性腐蚀模型奠定了基础，此类模型能够捕捉薄膜破裂与再钝化、从活化控制到扩散控制的腐蚀转变、与力学场的相互作用、微观结构与电化学效应、晶间腐蚀、材料生物降解，以及与氢脆等其他环境辅助损伤现象之间的耦合等关键过程。