Active-passive transition

Spontaneous Passivation The anodic nose of the first curve describes the primary passive potential Epp and critical anodic current density (the transition from active to passive corrosion), if the initial active/passive transition is 10 lA/cm or less, the alloy will spontaneously passivate in the presence of oxygen or any strong oxidizing agent. 

Stress corrosion can arise in plain carbon and low-alloy steels if critical conditions of temperature, concentration and potential in hot alkali solutions are present (see Section 2.3.3). The critical potential range for stress corrosion is shown in Fig. 2-18. This potential range corresponds to the active/passive transition. Theoretically, anodic protection as well as cathodic protection would be possible (see Section 2.4) however, in the active condition, noticeable negligible dissolution of the steel occurs due to the formation of FeO ions. Therefore, the anodic protection method was chosen for protecting a water electrolysis plant operating with caustic potash solution against stress corrosion [30]. The protection current was provided by the electrolytic cells of the plant. 

Fig. 1.39 Schematic anodic polarisation curve for a metal. Region AB describes active dissolution of the metal. BC is the active/passive transition, with passivation commencing at B. Passivation is complete only at potentials higher than C. The metal is passive over the range CD...

Fig. 1.41 Schematic anodic polarisation curves for a passivatable metal showing the effect of a passivating agent that has no specific cathodic action, but forms a sparingly soluble salt with the metal cation, a without the passivating agent, b with the passivating agent. The passive current density, the active/passive transition and the critical current density are all lowered in b. The effect of the cathodic reaction c, is to render the metal active in case a, and passive...

The ease with which stainless steels can passivate then increases with the level of chromium within the alloy and so materials with higher chromium content are more passive (i.e. conduct a lower passive current density) and passivate more readily (i.e. the critical current density is lower and the active/passive transition is lower in potential). They are also passive in more aggressive solutions the pitting potential is higher. 

Note that Reference" draws attention to the possibility of an increase of anodic polarisation of the more negative member of a couple leading to a decrease in galvanic corrosion rate. There can also be a risk of increased corrosion of the more positive member of a couple. Both these features can arise as a result of active/passive transition effects on certain metals in certain environments. 

The effects of concentration, velocity and temperature are complex and it will become evident that these factors can frequently outweigh the thermodynamic and kinetic considerations detailed in Section 1.4. Thus it has been demonstrated in Chapter 1 that an increase in hydrogen ion concentration will raise the redox potential of the aqueous solution with a consequent increase in rate. On the other hand, an increase in the rate of the cathodic process may cause a decrease in rate when the metal shows an active/passive transition. However, in complex environmental situations these considerations do not always apply, particularly when the metals are subjected to certain conditions of high velocity and temperature. 

It is convenient to consider three stages of anode polarisation with regard to temperature effects, (a) under film-free conditions, (b) under film-forming conditions and (c) at the active-passive transition. 

Thus the rate of change of ip under activation control is much faster than / i, which is under diffusion control, and for the same condition of solution velocity the two rates could become equal at some common temperature, i.e. = ip, and there is no active-passive transition. For many of the systems given in the table this temperature is about 100°C. Above this temperature the measured activation energy is lower and diffusion control is established. 

Active-passive transition It has been shown that /p, the current required to maintain a passive film, increases with temperature at a much greater rate than the critical current for passivation as a result of an activation-controlled process. At some temperature /p will exceed /pri,. and no active-passive transition will be observed, and more important no protection by a passive film is possible because of the high rate of dissolution. At this stage the slow process becomes the diffusion of reactants and control of the rate is... 

The influence of temperature on the anodic behaviour of nickel has been studied, and in acidic and neutral solutions the active-passive transition is not observed at temperatures greater than about 100°C (Fig. 4.21). 

Electrochemical noise. Fluctuations in potential or current from baseline values during electrochemical measurements are particularly prominent during active/passive transitions. This so-called electrochemical noise is of particular value in monitoring localised corrosion, i.e. pitting, crevice and deposit corrosion and stress-corrosion cracking . 

The potentiostat is particularly useful in determining the behaviour of metals that show active-passive transition. Knowledge of the nature of passivity and the probable mechanisms involved has accumulated more rapidly since the introduction of the potentiostatic technique. Perhaps of more importance for the subject at hand are the practical implications of this method. We now have a tool which allows an operational definition of passivity and a means of determining the tendency of metals to become passive and resist corrosion under various conditions. 

Another contribution of the potentiostatic technique to s.c.c. studies has been the report that cracking prevails essentially at two potential levels for metals showing an active-passive transition. These potentials are located near the top and bottom of the passive region. Along the same lines, Uhlig and his co-workers have determined critical ranges of potential for s.c.c. , although their theoretical interpretation differs from that of the other references cited. 

Active Loop the region of an anodic polarisation curve of a metal comprising the active region and the active-passive transition. 

Active-passive Transition the range of potential between the active (freely corroding) state and the passive state. 

A common feature of all electrochemical pore formation processes in solid-state electrodes of a homogeneous chemical composition is the remarkable difference in dissolution rate between pore tip and pore wall. This is usually discussed in terms of an active-passive transition between the pore tip interface and the pore wall interface. But this still leaves the question open as to what quality of the pores makes their tips active and the remaining surface passive. On a basic level the active-passive transition has been ascribed to three distinct causes [Le31] ... 

Fast Fourier transform instrumentation has been shown to be advantageous, both in the analytical and kinetic applications of voltammetry, for example, on Cd and Pb redox systems [43]. Active/passive transition for the Pb(Hg)/PbCl2 system has been studied using digital simulation [44]. 

However, these criteria are not as general as claimed by the authors. As is demonstrated in the next section, metal dissolution reactions that oscillate at the active passive transition possess all the characteristics of N-NDR oscillators, but do not comply with Strasser et al. s mechanistic ingredients. Hence, the above conditions (a) and (b) are sufficient, but not necessary. 

Fig. 61. Cluster pattern observed during the electrodissolution of a Fe ring electrode in the active/passive transition region under potentiostatic conditions. The RE was located in the plane of the WE. (a) and (b) Snapshots taken during two successive oscillations of the total current, (c) Spatiotemporal plot of the azimuthal intensity. (Reproduced with permission from B. J. Green and J. L. Hudson, Phys. Rev. E 63 (2001) 026214, (2001) by the American Physical Society).

Both reactive metal components are oxidized at the metal/oxide interface. However, in the passive range Fe(III) ions are dissolved preferentially with a slow, but still larger, rate by at least one order of magnitude. This situation leads to an accumulation of Cr(III) within the passive layer. XPS studies yield a Cr content of >70 at. % [69-72], In the active/passive transition range, Cr is accumulated to 90% and it reaches a plateau of 80% in the passive range. Finally, it decreases for E > 1.0 V in the transpassive range (Fig. 27b). 

Figure 4 Schematic Evans diagram for a material that undergoes an active-passive transition. Important parameters that characterize this behavior are indicated.

In the presence of oxidizing species (such as dissolved oxygen), some metals and alloys spontaneously passivate and thus exhibit no active region in the polarization curve, as shown in Fig. 6. The oxidizer adds an additional cathodic reaction to the Evans diagram and causes the intersection of the total anodic and total cathodic lines to occur in the passive region (i.e., Ecmi is above Ew). The polarization curve shows none of the characteristics of an active-passive transition. The open circuit dissolution rate under these conditions is the passive current density, which is often on the order of 0.1 j.A/cm2 or less. The increased costs involved in using CRAs can be justified by their low dissolution rate under such oxidizing conditions. A comparison of dissolution rates for a material with the same anodic Tafel slope, E0, and i0 demonstrates a reduction in corrosion rate... 

Figure 6 Schematic Evans diagram and resulting potential-controlled polarization curve for a material that undergoes an active-passive transition and is in an oxidizing solution. The heavy line represents the applied currents required to polarize the sample. If the sample did not undergo an active-passive transition, it would corrode at a much higher rate in this solution, as is indicated by the intersection of the dotted line and the cathodic curve.

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