Corrosion potential determination

Corrosion Rate by CBD Somewhat similarly to the Tafel extrapolation method, the corrosion rate is found by intersecting the extrapolation of the linear poi tion of the second cathodic curve with the equihbrium stable corrosion potential. The intersection corrosion current is converted to a corrosion rate (mils penetration per year [mpy], 0.001 in/y) by use of a conversion factor (based upon Faraday s law, the electrochemical equivalent of the metal, its valence and gram atomic weight). For 13 alloys, this conversion factor ranges from 0.42 for nickel to 0.67 for Hastelloy B or C. For a qmck determination, 0.5 is used for most Fe, Cr, Ni, Mo, and Co alloy studies. Generally, the accuracy of the corrosion rate calculation is dependent upon the degree of linearity of the second cathodic curve when it is less than... 

Fig. 1.40 Schematic anodic polarisation curve for a passivatable metal (solid line), shown together with three alternative cathodic reactions (broken line). Open-circuit corrosion potentials are determined by the intersection between the anodic and cathodic reaction rates. Cathode a intersects the anodic curve in the active region and the metal corrodes. Cathode b intersects at three possible points for which the metal may actively corrode or passivate, but passivity could be unstable. Only cathode c provides stable passivity. The lines a, b and c respectively could represent different cathodic reactions of increasing oxidizing power, or they could represent the same oxidizing agent at increasing concentration.

The corrosion potentials of the two metals in the environment under consideration will determine the direction of the transfer of electrons, but will provide no information on the rate of electron transfer, i.e. the magnitude of the galvanic current. Thus if E an.. is more positive than corr..B thc transfer of electrons will be from to with a consequent increase in the corrosion potential (more positive) of and a decrease in that of A/ the corrosion rate of will consequently increase and the corrosion rate of A/ will decrease compared with the rates when the metals... 

The general form of the anodic polarisation curve of the stainless steels in acid solutions as determined potentiostaticaiiy or potentiodynamically is shown in Fig. 3.14, curve ABCDE. If the cathodic curve of the system PQ intersects this curve at P between B and C only, the steel is passive and the film should heal even if damaged. This, then, represents a condition in which the steel can be used with safety. If, however, the cathodic curve P Q also intersects ED the passivity is unstable and any break in the film would lead to rapid metal solution, since the potential is now in the active region and the intersection at Q gives the stable corrosion potential and corrosion current. 

In 3% sodium chloride solution at 60°C the austenitic irons again show superior characteristics to the ferritic. The breakdown potentials determined in this environment, which provide a relative measure of the resistance to attack in neutral chloride solutions, are generally more noble for the austenitic irons than for the ferritic (Table 3.47). This indicates that the austenitic irons should show better corrosion resistance in such environments. 

Some of the investigations involving electrochemical measurements have been concerned with relating easily determined quanities such as corrosion potential and corrosion current with the behaviour of a material in corrosion fatigue, so that this behaviour can be rapidly assessed without the necessity of the laborious collection of data which was the feature of McAdam s approach. Endo and Komai have derived an expression relating the increase... 

Fig. 10.6 Polarisation diagram showing the limited role hydrogen evolution plays at the corrosion potential of steel in aerated neutral solution, the larger role in determining cathodic protection currents and the dominant role in contributing to current requirements at very negative potenitals. The dotted line shows the total cathodic current due to oxygen reduction and...

At the start the cathode is invariably a metal different from that to be deposited. Frequently, the aim is to coat a base metal with a more noble one, but it may not be possible to do this in one step. When a metal is immersed in a plating bath it will corrode unless its potential is sufficiently low to suppress its ionisation. Fortunately, a low rate of corrosion is tolerable for a brief initial period. There are cases where even when a cathode is being plated at a high cathodic (nett) current density, the substrate continues to corrode rapidly because the potential (determined by the metal deposited) is too high. No satisfactory coating forms if the substrate dissolves at a high rate concurrently with electrodeposition. This problem can be overcome by one or more of the following procedures ... 

The effects of adsorbed inhibitors on the individual electrode reactions of corrosion may be determined from the effects on the anodic and cathodic polarisation curves of the corroding metaP . A displacement of the polarisation curve without a change in the Tafel slope in the presence of the inhibitor indicates that the adsorbed inhibitor acts by blocking active sites so that reaction cannot occur, rather than by affecting the mechanism of the reaction. An increase in the Tafel slope of the polarisation curve due to the inhibitor indicates that the inhibitor acts by affecting the mechanism of the reaction. However, the determination of the Tafel slope will often require the metal to be polarised under conditions of current density and potential which are far removed from those of normal corrosion. This may result in differences in the adsorption and mechanistic effects of inhibitors at polarised metals compared to naturally corroding metals . Thus the interpretation of the effects of inhibitors at the corrosion potential from applied current-potential polarisation curves, as usually measured, may not be conclusive. This difficulty can be overcome in part by the use of rapid polarisation methods . A better procedure is the determination of true polarisation curves near the corrosion potential by simultaneous measurements of applied current, corrosion rate (equivalent to the true anodic current) and potential. However, this method is rather laborious and has been little used. 

The potential difference across the electric double layer A. This cannot be determined in absolute terms but must be defined with reference to another charged interface, i.e. a reference electrode. In the case of a corroding metal the potential is the corrosion potential which arises from the mutual polarisation of the anodic and cathodic reactions constituting the overall corrosion reaction see Section 1.4). 

It is evident from previous considerations (see Section 1.4) that the corrosion potential provides no information on the corrosion rate, and it is also evident that in the case of a corroding metal in which the anodic and cathodic sites are inseparable (c.f. bimetallic corrosion) it is not possible to determine by means of an ammeter. The conventional method of determining corrosion rates by mass-loss determinations is tedious and over the years attention has been directed to the possibility of using instantaneous electrochemical methods. Thus based on the Pearson derivation Schwerdtfeger, era/. have examined the logarithmic polarisation curves for potential breaks that can be used to evaluate the corrosion rate however, the method has not found general acceptance. 

The mechanism of the action of metallic copper was investigated by Streicher who determined the potential of a Type 314 stainless steel, the redox potential of the solution (as indicated by a platinised-Pt electrode) and the potential of the copper. The actual measurements were made with a saturated calomel electrode, but the results reported below are with reference to S.H.E. In the absence of copper the corrosion potential of the stainless steel was 0-58 V, whereas the potential of the Pt electrode was... 

Neufeld, P. and Queenan, E. D., Frequency Dependence of Polarisation Resistance Measured with Square Wave Alternating Potential , Br. Corros. J., 5, 72-75, March (1970) Fontana, M. G., Corrosion Engineering, 3rd edn., McGraw-Hill, pp 194-8 (1986) Dawson, J. L., Callow, L. M., Hlady, K. and Richardson, J. A., Corrosion Rate Determination By Electrochemical Impedance Measurement , Conf. On-Line Surveillance and Monitoring of Process Plant, London, Society of Chemical Industry (1977)... 

Little work has been done on bare lithium metal that is well defined and free of surface film [15-24], Odziemkowski and Irish [15] showed that for carefully purified LiAsF6 tetrahydrofuran (THF) and 2-methyltetrahydrofuran 2Me-THF electrolytes the exchange-current density and corrosion potential on the lithium surface immediately after cutting in situ, are primarily determined by two reactions anodic dissolution of lithium, and cathodic reduc-... 

As described in Sec. 11.3, the spontaneous corrosion potential of a corroding metal is represented by the intersection of the anodic polarization curve of metal dissolution with the cathodic polarization curve of oxidant reduction (Figs. 11—5 and 11-6). Then, whether a metal electrode is in the active or in the passive state is determined by the intersection of the anodic and cathodic polarization curves. 

In 0.1 mol/L KNO3 solution, pH is adjusted to 10.0 by NaOH, Ca(OH)2 and Na2C03. The Tafel curves of marmatite electrode in the above solutions are determined as shown in Fig. 5.9. It follows from Fig. 5.9 that the electrochemical parameters of corrosive potential and current are almost not affected by the pH... 

Figtire 7.12 is the polarization curves of pyrite electrode in xanthate solution with different concentration for dipping for 48 hours. Electrochemistry parameters determined by the computer PARcal are listed in Table 7.2. Inhibiting efficiency can be calculated by Eq. (7-7), Rp- is the polarization resistance after adding collector, Rp is the polarization resistance without collector. It can be seen from Fig. 7.12 and Table 7.2 diat, with the increase of xanthate concentration, corrosive potential and corrosive current of the pyrite electrode decrease gradually while polarization resistance increases, indicating the formation of surface oxidation products. 

At 60 minutes only, dc potentiodynamic curves were determined from which the corrosion current was obtained by extrapolation of the anodic Tafel slope to the corrosion potential. The anodic Tafel slope b was generally between 70 to 80 mV whereas the cathodic curve continuously increased to a limiting diffusion current. The curves supported impedance data in indicating the presence of charge transfer and mass transfer control processes. The measurements at 60 minutes indicated a linear relationship between and 0 of slope 21mV. This confirmed that charge transfer impedance could be used to provide a measure of the corrosion rate at intermediate exposure times and these values are summarised in Table 1. 

Vetter defines polarization at a given current density level as the difference of the electrode potential corresponding to that current density and the corrosion potential of that system r = E — ECOIX however, it should be stressed that there is no reason to expect reproducibility of the corrosion potential beyond the reproducibility of the kinetic and catalytic factors determining it. 

---