Kinetics of passivation and pitting corrosion of polycrystalline copper in borate buffer solutions containing sodium chloride

The pitting corrosion of copper in borate buffer containing sodium chloride is studied by using potentiostatic and potentiodynamic techniques complemented with scanning electron microscopy and EDAX. The breakdown potential shifts towards more negative values as the sodium chloride concentration increases. During pitting both soluble Cu(I) and Cu(II) species are detected. The first stage of pitting is explained through the competition between the passive layer formation and the nucleation and growth of the CuCl layer in equilibrium with Cu(I)-chloride complexes in solution. When salt nuclei reach the metal surface, pit growth under charge-transfer control is found. In the following stage the kinetics of pit growth changes to a diffusion controlled process when the thick CuCl layer is completed. Secondary breakdown of the salt layer results in copper dissolution through Cu(II) soluble species. The corresponding overall process is discussed in terms of a sum of nucleation and growth processes. The reaction model reproduces the potentiostatic current transients of copper in weakly alkaline borate buffer containing sodium chloride.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA)Facultad de Ciencias Exacta

Kinetics of passivation and pitting corrosion of polycrystalline copper in borate buffer solutions containing sodium chloride

The pitting corrosion of copper in borate buffer containing sodium chloride is studied by using potentiostatic and potentiodynamic techniques complemented with scanning electron microscopy and EDAX. The breakdown potential shifts towards more negative values as the sodium chloride concentration increases. During pitting both soluble Cu(I) and Cu(II) species are detected. The first stage of pitting is explained through the competition between the passive layer formation and the nucleation and growth of the CuCl layer in equilibrium with Cu(I)-chloride complexes in solution. When salt nuclei reach the metal surface, pit growth under charge-transfer control is found. In the following stage the kinetics of pit growth changes to a diffusion controlled process when the thick CuCl layer is completed. Secondary breakdown of the salt layer results in copper dissolution through Cu(II) soluble species. The corresponding overall process is discussed in terms of a sum of nucleation and growth processes. The reaction model reproduces the potentiostatic current transients of copper in weakly alkaline borate buffer containing sodium chloride.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA)Facultad de Ciencias Exacta

A comparative pitting corrosion study of mild steel in different alkaline solutions containing salts with sulphur-containing anions

The localized corrosion of mild steel in alkaline solutions containing a salt with a sulphurcontaining anion (sodium sulphate, sodium sulphite, sodium thiosulphate, potassium thiocyanate and sodium sulphide) is studied by using potentiostatic and potentiodynamic techniques complemented with scanning electron microscopy. Alkaline solutions containing one of those salts produce pitting of mild steel at potential values more positive than those of the active-passive transition of iron in base. In the presence of either thiocyanate or thiosulphate anion iron pitting takes place through sulphide formation which reacts at the electrode surface yielding poorly protective ferrous sulphide. At potential more positive than the breakdown potential the kinetic behaviour fits a competitive surface reaction mechanism involving the formation of the passive film and the nucleation and growth of a ferrous sulphide salt layer. The proposed reaction model reproduces the corresponding experimental current-transients.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicada

Kinetics of passivation and pitting corrosion of polycrystalline copper in borate buffer solutions containing sodium chloride

The pitting corrosion of copper in borate buffer containing sodium chloride is studied by using potentiostatic and potentiodynamic techniques complemented with scanning electron microscopy and EDAX. The breakdown potential shifts towards more negative values as the sodium chloride concentration increases. During pitting both soluble Cu(I) and Cu(II) species are detected. The first stage of pitting is explained through the competition between the passive layer formation and the nucleation and growth of the CuCl layer in equilibrium with Cu(I)-chloride complexes in solution. When salt nuclei reach the metal surface, pit growth under charge-transfer control is found. In the following stage the kinetics of pit growth changes to a diffusion controlled process when the thick CuCl layer is completed. Secondary breakdown of the salt layer results in copper dissolution through Cu(II) soluble species. The corresponding overall process is discussed in terms of a sum of nucleation and growth processes. The reaction model reproduces the potentiostatic current transients of copper in weakly alkaline borate buffer containing sodium chloride.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA)Facultad de Ciencias Exacta