Passivity polarization curve, active-passive metal

Fig. 11-9. Anodic polarization curve of a metallic electrode for active dissolution, passivation, and transpassivation in aqueous acidic solution > u = anodic current of metal dissolution = passivation potential = transpassivation potential = maximum metal...

Passivation potential — Figure 1. Polarization curves of three metals in 0.5 M H2SO4 with active dissolution, a passive potential range, and transpassive dissolution and/or oxygen evolution at positive potentials Ep(Cr) = -0.2 V, -Ep(Fe) FP(Ni) = 0.6 V [i]... 

The Figure is a schematic polarization curve for a metal exhibiting typical thin-film active-passive behavior (e.g., Ni or Cr in sulfuric acid). Note that this diagram is for a single redox system, namely M/M+ (i.e.,... 

FIGURE 22.17 Metallic passivation schematically illustrated by anodic and cathodic polarization curves of corroding metals (a) active corrosion, (b) unstable passivity, and (c) stable passivity i+ = anodic metal dissolution current and i = cathodic oxidant reduction current. 

When the corrosion potential of a metal is made by some means more positive than the passivation potential, the metal will passivate into almost no corrosion because of the formation of a passive oxide him on the metal surface. As shown in Figure 22.17, the passivation of a metal will occur, if the cathodic polarization curve for the redox electron transfer of oxidant reduction goes beyond the anodic polarization curve for the metal ion transfer in the active state of metal dissolution. As far as the anodic polarization curve of metal dissolution exceeds the cathodic polarization curve of oxidant reduction, however, the corrosion potential remains in the active potential range and the metal corrosion progresses in the active state. An unstable passive state will arise if the cathodic polarization curve crosses the anodic polarization curve at two points, one in the passive state and the other in the active sate. In this unstable state, a passivated metal, once its passivity is broken down, can never be repassivated again because of its active dissolution current greater than the cathodic current of oxidant reduction. 

A metal is passive if it resists corrosion in strong oxidizing solutions or at appUed anodic polarization [4—9]. Active-passive metal passivates through interaction with oxidizing agents or anodic polarization. A metal is defined as active-passive if it possesses three regions in the polarization curve active, passive, and a transpassive region. A typical anodic polarization curve of an active-passive metal is shown in Fig. 1.3. 

Fig. 13.12 Polarization curve for a metal/metal ion system that undergoes an active to passive transition [12]...

Figure 17.12 Schematic polarization curve for a metal that displays an active-passive transition.

Schematic polarization curve of a metal with active dissolution and passive range and a passivating redox system creating passivity (solid line) and maintaining...

Corrosion protection of metals can take many fonns, one of which is passivation. As mentioned above, passivation is the fonnation of a thin protective film (most commonly oxide or hydrated oxide) on a metallic surface. Certain metals that are prone to passivation will fonn a thin oxide film that displaces the electrode potential of the metal by +0.5-2.0 V. The film severely hinders the difflision rate of metal ions from the electrode to tire solid-gas or solid-liquid interface, thus providing corrosion resistance. This decreased corrosion rate is best illustrated by anodic polarization curves, which are constructed by measuring the net current from an electrode into solution (the corrosion current) under an applied voltage. For passivable metals, the current will increase steadily with increasing voltage in the so-called active region until the passivating film fonns, at which point the current will rapidly decrease. This behaviour is characteristic of metals that are susceptible to passivation. 

In the polarization curve for anodic dissolution of iron in a phosphoric acid solution without CP ions, as shown in Fig. 3, we can see three different states of metal dissolution. The first is the active state at the potential region of the less noble metal where the metal dissolves actively, and the second is the passive state at the more noble region where metal dissolution barely proceeds. In the passive state, an extremely thin oxide film called a passive film is formed on the metal surface, so that metal dissolution is restricted. In the active state, on the contrary, the absence of the passive film leads to the dissolution from the bare metal surface. The difference of the dissolution current between the active and passive states is quite large for a system of an iron electrode in 1 mol m"3 sulfuric acid, the latter value is about 1/10,000 of the former value.6... 

FIGURE 22.2 Schematic polarization curves for spontaneous dissolution (a) of active metals (h) of passivated metals. (1,2) Anodic curves for active metals (3) cathodic curve for hydrogen evolution (4) cathodic curve for air-oxygen reduction (5) anodic curve of the passivated metal. 

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. 

Consider first the polarization curve (i.e., Tafel plot) for the anodic halfreaction occurring in corrosion of stainless steels (Fig. 16.8). The diagram for the active region is much the same as has been seen for other anodes (Figs. 15.4 to 15.7). As Eh is increased to a certain specific value, however, a sudden and dramatic drop in the anodic current density i occurs, corresponding to formation of an oxide film. At higher Eh, i remains constant at a very low level (the horizontal scale in Fig. 16.8 is logarithmic), and the metal has become passive, that is, effectively immune from corrosion. 

Fig. 1. Polarization curve of metals with active, passive and (a) transpassive potential range including oxygen evolution (b) passive potential range going directly to oxygen evolution (c) continuing passivity for valve metals to very positive potentials. Pitting between critical pitting lim and inhibition potential fsj in the presence of aggressive anions and inhibitors.

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... 

Most modern industrial materials are designed to be passive i.e., covered by an adherent, chemically inert, and pore-free oxide that is highly insoluble in aqueous solutions and hence dissolves at an extremely slow rate. Examples would be modern stainless steels, nickel-chromium-molybdenum, and titanium alloys. The concept of passivity is often defined by reference to the polarization curve for metals and alloys in aggressive acidic solutions, Fig. 22. This curve defines the potential regions within which the alloy would be expected to corrode actively or passively. 

We see, as a consequence, that the anodic oxygen production on the part of w-type oxide may be coupled with the cathodic oxygen reduction and/or with the cathodic hydrogen production on the part of the metal surface. The polarization curves of these reactions are schematically shown for a passive metal in Figure 22.36 and for an active metal in Figure 22.37. 

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