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Yes. Rust is simply iron returning to nature. :-) In the ground, "iron ore" is iron oxide (FeO2), since iron reacts very well with oxygen. The iron refining process is primarily removing this oxygen, leaving metallic iron. Steel is simply an iron alloy containing some amount of carbon, so what happens to iron happens to steel (since the carbon doesn't prevent oxidation, it just adds strength). Stainless steel, btw, is simply a steel alloy with some amount of chromium in it, and the chromium "reacts" with the iron to take up the space in the iron atoms the oxygen would normally try to occupy, so rust can't form (easily, the chromium has a weak affinity, and any iron atoms with no chromium atoms nearby will readily accept oxygen atoms). So, since rust is simply oxidized iron, if there's no oxygen, there's no rust. If you put an iron bar in orbit, it also wouldn't rust. If you put it in a box with all of the oxygen removed, no rust. If you cover it with something that prevents 100% of the oxygen from reaching it, no rust. The trick, of course, is that "100%" bit. Paint also stops oxygen from reaching the iron, but paint scratches fairly easily, and paint itself reacts with oxygen, so paint only works for a few years before oxygen starts to attack the iron. Cured epoxy based paints don't react with oxygen, and are hard to scratch, so they work for longer before the inevitable happens. Just how long "longer" is hasn't yet been answered. Most of the POR-15-like products haven't been on the market all that long, and most cars treated with them are treated much better than cars that aren't treated with it. I'm sure any nicely painted car that's kept covered in a garage 90% of the time would survive rust free for a very long time. I'd expect most POR-15'd cars are also mostly kept out of the sun and only used now and again. There's also a big variance in how well the products are applied, so it's going to be very hard to tell in 15-20 years just how effective these treatments really are. --- "Ruesch, Del A." <druesch@fhlbi.com> wrote: > Is it correct to say that if you completely cut off > the flow of oxygen > to the rust, the rust will not progress? If that's > true and these > products (POR-15, Rust Bullet, etc.) completely cut > off the oxygen, then > maybe they really can do what they claim. I'm a bit > skeptical although > I just coated my floor pan with Rust Bullet (a > POR-15 competitor). > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~