Corrosion to Cohesion: Surface Engineering Strategies for Durable Metal–Rubber Interfaces

The loss of adhesion at metal-rubber interfaces due to corrosion is highly challenging in the automotive, aerospace, marine, and industrial sectors. The review is a combined evaluation of the ways corrosion mechanisms, which include metal sulfidization, oxide formation, polymer-metal reactions, and environmental factors, regulate interfacial degradation. State-of-the-art characterization methods, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrochemical methods, are discussed as having been crucial in understanding the development of interfacial films that regulate adhesion behavior and failure mode. The review is a synthesis of the existing surface engineering approaches to reducing debonding caused by corrosion, including electropolymerized conductive finishes, rubber-moderated structures, self-healing structures, and inorganic-organic hybrids. These strategies improve the stability of interfaces by controlling chemical bonding, passivation of active surfaces, and reinforcement of the polymer-metal interface. Combining findings from corrosion, polymer chemistry, and materials engineering, this review sets the principles of design to create long-term operation durable assemblies between metals and rubber.