Tin cans

Deformed cans in canned drinks or goods are dangerous to your health!

According to our Degradation of Materials professor, tin cans are made of two materials: Tin and Aluminum. These two materials have different properties and are used in different applications.

Corrosion, a form of degradation, takes place in different scenarios. And one of these is exposure of two metals in contact to factors that causes corrosion such as water, air and stress, etc. Tin and aluminum have different responses to certain amounts of water, air and stress. If two materials in contact have different responses to external factors, and are exposed to these, the weaker material becomes the sacrificial material and be the one to degrade first.

When the tin cans are deformed, “wounds” in the can causes the two metals in contact to be exposed to either the water or air inside the can itself, or the external factors that also causes corrosion. These wounds are where corrosion takes place. It creates a nucleating point and is where rust, the degraded form of metal, is formed. Rust is an unwanted form of the metal since it contaminates the contents of the can and it is dangerous to our health

So when you buy canned products in the store, make sure to choose undeformed cans to make sure you won’t eat the rust caused by the degradation.