Oxidation, surface processes

Finally, in 1985, the results of an extensive investigation in which adsorjDtion took place onto an aluminium oxide layer fonned on a film of aluminium deposited in vacuo onto a silicon wafer was published by Allara and Nuzzo 1127, 1281. Various carboxylic acids were dissolved in high-purity hexadecane and allowed to adsorb from this solution onto the prepared aluminium oxide surface. It was found that for chains with more than 12 carbon atoms, chains are nearly in a vertical orientation and are tightly packed. For shorter chains, however, no stable monolayers were found. The kinetic processes involved in layer fonnation can take up to several days. 

Oxidative surface treatment processes can be gaseous, ie, air, carbon dioxide, and ozone Hquid, ie, sodium hypochlorite, and nitric acid or electrolytic with the fiber serving as the anode within an electrolytic bath containing sodium carbonate, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, or other electrolyte. Examples of electrolytic processes are described in the patent Hterature (39,40)... 

Corrosion-inhibiting primers based on this technology have been in continuous service since they were first utilized with nitrile epoxies in the late 1960s. These inhibitors function by passivating the aluminum. In this process, water permeating the adhesive bondline carries a certain amount of inhibitor to the oxide surface. 

A more recent process, the P2 etch [60], which uses ferric sulfate as an oxidizer in place of sodium dichromate avoids the use of toxic chromates, but still provides a similar oxide surface morphology (Fig. 15) allowing a mechanically interlocked interface and strong bonding [9]. The P2 treatment has wide process parameter windows over a broad range of time-temperature-solution concentration conditions and mechanical testing confirms that P2-prepared surfaces are, at a minimum, equivalent to FPL-prepared specimens and only slightly inferior to PAA-prepared surfaces [61]. 

The ferric oxide is impregnated on wood chips, which produces a solid bed with a large ferric oxide surface area. Several grades of treated wood chips are available, based on iron oxide content. The most common grades are 6.5-, 9.0-, 15.0-, and 20-lb iron oxide/bushel. The chips are contained in a vessel, and sour gas flows through the bed and reacts with the ferric oxide. Figure 7-3 shows a typical vessel for the iron sponge process. 

As the film dissolves more oxide film is formed, i.e. the metal/oxide interface progresses into the metal, and the overall rate may be low enough to be acceptable for a particular process. In other cases, the corrosion products precipitate on the surface of the oxide and either accelerate the overall rate by enhancing diffusion of ions through the porous outer layers or, when less porous layers are formed, access of hydrogen ions to the inner oxide surface is reduced thus decreasing the rate. 

Early studies on oxide films stripped from iron showed the presence of chromium after inhibition in chromate solutionand of crystals of ferric phosphate after inhibition in phosphate solutions. More recently, radio-tracer studies using labelled anions have provided more detailed information on the uptake of anions. These measurements of irreversible uptake have shown that some inhibitive anions, e.g. chromateand phosphate are taken up to a considerable extent on the oxide film. However, other equally effective inhibitive anions, e.g. benzoate" pertechnetate and azelate , are taken up to a comparatively small extent. Anions may be adsorbed on the oxide surface by interactions similar to those described above in connection with adsorption on oxide-free metal surfaces. On the oxide surface there is the additional possibility that the adsorbed anions may undergo a process of ion exchange whereby... 

O2, Mn, pH, and solid concentrations indicates that the character of the solid is important partly because some surfaces bind Mn " more strongly and partly because they facilitate the electron transfer differently. Catalysis by enzymes is clearly the most effective oxidation enhancing process as indicated by the laboratory studies with spores and material from the O2/H2S interface of Saanich Inlet. Microbial catalysis in this environment reduces the oxidation lifetime of Mn to about one day. This example illustrates... 

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