Introduction to Knowledge Based Systems in Corrosion

The modern world has produced an unprecedented level of technical information that merits being preserved and managed. In an age of conservation and recycling, it is important to recognize the fact that the most valuable commodities are information as a vehicle and knowledge as the essence. It is surely sensible to preserve and recycle these most valuable commodities.

The rapid development of accessible computing power in the 1980s and 1990s has led to the use of computers and direct or indirect applications of machine intelligence in every sphere of engineering. As a modern science philosopher said 'the emergence of machine intelligence during the second half of the twentieth century is the most important development in the evolution of this planet since the origin of life two to three thousand million years ago'. (Stonier)

However, efficient methodologies have to be developed in order to make use of this new power to support human intelligence. However, the adequate transfer and reuse of information covering corrosion problems and solutions involves the development of information processing strategies that can become very complex.

A typical corrosion engineering task requires handling different types of knowledge and disciplines such as metallurgy, chemistry, cost engineering, safety and risk analysis. The expected corrosion behavior of engineering materials is thus only one component of the multi-facet life cycle management of systems. The increasing availability of computerized information is making the topic of software accessibility and portability also increasingly important.