Corrosion of ferrous metals and its effects on degradation of mechanical properties and the remaining service life of metal structures have been a serious challenge to research community globally. This paper aims to investigate the problem thoroughly with experimental, numerical and analytical means. It presents results produced from a comprehensive experimental program on corrosion and its effect on degradation of mechanical properties of steel and cast iron. These include corrosion effects on mechanical properties at both macro level, e.g. the fundamental strength, and micro level, e.g. element composition, thereby presenting a complete cause and effect relationship for corrosion induced degradation of ferrous metals. Numerical results include corrosion effects on fracture failure for both single and mixed mode fractures. Analytical results include new solutions to first passage probability which is the most rational method in time-dependent reliability theory employed for service life prediction of structures. An example of cast iron pipe with fracture failure is provided to illustrate the proposed methodology. Test results presented in the paper can contribute to the body of knowledge of corrosion of ferrous metals with a view to service life of corrosion affected infrastructure.

黑色金属的腐蚀及其对机械性能退化和金属结构剩余使用寿命的影响已成为全球研究界的一项严峻挑战。本文旨在通过实验，数值和分析手段对问题进行彻底研究。它介绍了从腐蚀综合实验程序及其对钢和铸铁机械性能退化的影响得出的结果。这些包括对宏观性能（例如基本强度）和微观水平（例如元素组成）的机械性能的腐蚀影响，从而为腐蚀引起的黑色金属降解提供了完整的因果关系。数值结果包括腐蚀对单模和混合模断裂的破坏作用。分析结果包括首次通过概率的新解决方案，这是用于结构寿命预测的时变可靠性理论中最合理的方法。提供了一个具有断裂故障的铸铁管示例，以说明所提出的方法。本文中提出的测试结果可以有助于黑色金属腐蚀的知识体系，从而延长受腐蚀影响的基础设施的使用寿命。