Potential drop method

The Direct Current Potential Drop Method for Testing of Powder Metallurgical Parts. 

The Direct Current Potential Drop method (DCPD) has been evaluated for non destructive testing of uniaxially produced Powder Metallurgical (P/M) parts. The aim is to adapt DCPD to be functional as an ndt tool during production of parts. Defects can occur at different stages in the production cycle which means that DCPD has to be performed on components in different states and searching for different defects. 

Both AC and DC potential-drop methods are well-established techniques for monitoring subcritical crack growth. A combined AC/DC potential-drop measuring technique can, in some cases, help in obtaining more information from a single test, in particular for the onset of stable crack growth.172... 

Few experimental studies have been reported on the behavior of short cracks. However, in one study. Prater et al. [101] used an electrical potential drop method to monitor the growth oif surface cracks in carbon steel in oxygenated (8 ppm O2) high-temperature (288 °C) water. The cracks were semielliptical in shape and the crack... 

The electrical potential drop method uses the electrical resistance of the specimen to measure the crack length. A constant electrical current is applied between two points of the specimen far away from the crack and the potential drop in the vicinity of the crack is measured. Comparison with a calibration curve allows calculation of the crack length. Obviously, the specimen has to be electrically isolated from the testing machine and the displacement transducer. 

As an example, a tank farm that is to be cathodically protected by this method is shown schematically in Fig. 11-4. As can be seen in the figure, injection of the protection current occurs with two current circuits of a total of about 9 A, via 16 vertically installed high-silicon iron anodes embedded in coke. These are distributed over several locations in the tank farm to achieve an approximately uniform potential drop. The details of the transformer-rectifier as well as the individual anode currents are included in Fig. 11-4. Anodes 4, 5 and 6 have been placed at areas where corrosion damage previously occurred. Since off potentials for 7/ -free potential measurements cannot be used, external measuring probes should be installed for accurate assessment (see Section 3.3.3.2 and Chapter 12). 

Japaridze et al.m 323 have studied the interface between Hg and a number of vicinal and nonvicinal diols such as 1,2-, 1,3-, 2,3- and 1,4-butanediol (BD), ethanediol (ED), and 1,3-propanediol. KF and LiC104 were used as surface-inactive electrolytes. The potential of zero charge was measured by the capacitance method against an SCE in water without correction for the liquid junction potential at the solvent/H20 contact (such a potential drop is estimated to be in the range of 20 to 30 mV). The potential of the capacitance minimum was found to be independent of the electrolyte concentration while capacitance decreased with dilution. Therefore, Emin was taken to measure E . These values are reported in Table 4. 

Recently, Samec et al. [38] have investigated the same system by the video-image pendant drop method. Surface tension data from the two studies are compared in Fig. 2, where the potential scale from the study [36] was shifted so that the positions of the electrocapillary maxima coincide. The systematic difference in the surface tension data of ca. 3%, cf. the dotted line in Fig. 2, was ascribed to the inaccurate determination of the drop volume, which was calculated from the shape of the drop image and used further in the evaluation of the surface tension [38]. A point of interest is the inner-layer potential difference A (pj, which can be evaluated relative to the zero-charge potential difference A cpp c by using Eq. 

The sessile drop method has several drawbacks. Several days elapse between each displacement, and total test times exceeding one month are not uncommon. It can be difficult to determine that the interface has actually advanced across the face of the crystal. Displacement frequency and distance are variable and dependent upon the operator. Tests are conducted on pure mineral surfaces, usually quartz, which does not adequately model the heterogeneous rock surfaces in reservoirs. There is a need for a simple technique that gives reproducible data and can be used to characterize various mineral surfaces. The dynamic Wilhelmy plate technique has such a potential. This paper discusses the dynamic Wilhelmy plate apparatus used to study wetting properties of liquid/liquid/solid systems important to the oil industry. 

There are two difficulties with this method. The first one is due to the fact that in reality the potentiostat keeps the potential between the working and the reference electrode constant there is an ohmic resistance Rq between the tip of the Luggin capillary (see Chapter 2) and the working electrode, giving rise to a potential drop I R-n (7 is the current). Since I varies in time, so does the potential drop by which ry is in error. However, modern potentiostats can correct for this to some extent. The second difficulty is more serious. Immediately after the... 

A related technique is the current-step method The current is zero for t < 0, and then a constant current density j is applied for a certain time, and the transient of the overpotential 77(f) is recorded. The correction for the IRq drop is trivial, since I is constant, but the charging of the double layer takes longer than in the potential step method, and is never complete because 77 increases continuously. The superposition of the charge-transfer reaction and double-layer charging creates rather complex boundary conditions for the diffusion equation only for the case of a simple redox reaction and the range of small overpotentials 77 [Pg.177]

The results of the calibration and reaction experiments are shown in table 8.1 [142]. In this table, t is the time during which a current of intensity /flows through the calibration resistance, V the measured potential drop across the resistance, and m the mass of sample. The values of ATad for the calibration and reaction experiments were determined from the corresponding temperature-time data, using the Regnault-Pfaundler method with 7], Tf, k, and Tc0 calculated from equations 7.12-7.15 (section 7.1). 

What is next Several examples were given of modem experimental electrochemical techniques used to characterize electrode-electrolyte interactions. However, we did not mention theoretical methods used for the same purpose. Computer simulations of the dynamic processes occurring in the double layer are found abundantly in the literature of electrochemistry. Examples of topics explored in this area are investigation of lateral adsorbate-adsorbate interactions by the formulation of lattice-gas models and their solution by analytical and numerical techniques (Monte Carlo simulations) [Fig. 6.107(a)] determination of potential-energy curves for metal-ion and lateral-lateral interaction by quantum-chemical studies [Fig. 6.107(b)] and calculation of the electrostatic field and potential drop across an electric double layer by molecular dynamic simulations [Fig. 6.107(c)]. 

A commonly employed method to minimise ohmic potential drop effects is to place the reference electrode very close to the working electrode by means of a Luggin capillary. The disadvantage of very close placement, which may be unacceptable, is disturbance of the fluid flow. To avoid this, other methods are sometimes used. For example, a rotating disc electrode has been described in which the reference electrode is placed in a tiny compartment within the rotating electrode assembly and linked to the solution via a tiny orifice (0.7 mm) drilled in the centre of the disc [88]. 

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