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Passivity: Passivity: Loss of Chemical Reactivity of An Electrode in An Environment Due To The

The document discusses passivity and how an oxide film forms on a metal's surface causing inhibition of corrosion. It then describes various electrochemical methods to characterize corrosion including Tafel polarization, linear polarization, and Evans diagrams. The document also discusses a three-electrode system used to study corrosion including a working electrode, reference electrode, auxiliary electrode, and Luggin capillary.

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37 views

Passivity: Passivity: Loss of Chemical Reactivity of An Electrode in An Environment Due To The

The document discusses passivity and how an oxide film forms on a metal's surface causing inhibition of corrosion. It then describes various electrochemical methods to characterize corrosion including Tafel polarization, linear polarization, and Evans diagrams. The document also discusses a three-electrode system used to study corrosion including a working electrode, reference electrode, auxiliary electrode, and Luggin capillary.

Uploaded by

Muntazer Qasim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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University of Technology Corrosion Engineering Lecturer: Basheer Ahmed

Chemical Engineering Dept. 4th Class

Passivity
Passivity: Loss of chemical reactivity of an electrode in an environment due to the
formation of an oxide films its surface.

The important point is that once a film is formed, the corrosion rate sharply declines. The
passivity on the metal surface which develops due to film formation on metal surface causes
inhibition of the anodic dissolution process.
University of Technology Corrosion Engineering Lecturer: Basheer Ahmed
Chemical Engineering Dept. 4th Class

Electrochemical Methods:

1- Tafel polarization
2- Linear polarization

EVANS DIAGRAMS
The Evans diagram shows the electrode potential in volts in the ordinate and the reaction rate
(ampere) in the abscissa (Fig. 3.8). Consider a base metal, such as iron or zinc, placed in acidic
solution; the metal will dissolve at the same rate as hydrogen is evolved and the two reactions
mutually polarize each other. This is shown in a very simple form by Evans diagram. In Evans
diagram, either current or current density can be plotted against potential. If the ratio of anodic to
cathodic areas is taken as unity, current density (i) maybe used rather than current. A negligible
resistance is assumed between the anode and cathode. As the change in the anodic and cathodic
polarization has the same effect on corrosion current, the system is considered to be under mixed
control.
University of Technology Corrosion Engineering Lecturer: Basheer Ahmed
Chemical Engineering Dept. 4th Class

TREE-ELECTRODE SYSTEM
Electrochemical corrosion (EC) can be characterized using a proper electrochemical
instrumentation. A custom design device is shown in Figure 1. This electrochemical cell design
gives satisfactory results for thin or brittle working electrodes (WE). The WE is embedded in
epoxy resin along with a spot-weld wire. Actually, this type of WE-epoxy resin is just a
metallographic sample, which is well polished prior to immersion in a working electrolyte. All
parts immersed in the electrolyte must be inert to the electrolyte in order to avoid
electrochemical complications. Figure 1 shows a commercially available ASTM G-5 standard
electrochemical cell . This cell has two auxiliary graphite electrodes for providing a uniform
current distribution to the WE surface and it is known as a three-electrode cell.

1
University of Technology Corrosion Engineering Lecturer: Basheer Ahmed
Chemical Engineering Dept. 4th Class

For instance, common corrosion studies using the above instrumentation can include the
determination of the corrosion potential and the corrosion current density, linear polarization
resistance, Tafel plot, potentiodynamic polarization at scan rates and cyclic polarization. The
most common electrochemical techniques are potentiostatic, potentiodynamic, galvanostatic and
galvanodynamic polarization. In addition, this device can be used as a potentiostat for measuring
the current response due to an applied potential or as a galvanostat to measure the potential
response at an applied current. This device is very popular among researchers and can also be
used for studying the microstructural evolution of oxide and nitride coatings during
electrodeposition.

TREE-ELECTRODE SYSTEM
This system is shown in Figure 6.2. The working electrode (WE) potential is measured against
the reference electrode, provided that an ohmic resistance gradient is significantly reduced and
current flows only between the auxiliary electrode and the working electrode [1-2]. The
electrochemical cell components and their functions are described below.

Platinum Auxiliary Electrode: It passes current to the working electrode (specimen) to be


studied.
University of Technology Corrosion Engineering Lecturer: Basheer Ahmed
Chemical Engineering Dept. 4th Class

Luggin Capillary: It is a probe or tube filled with an electrolyte to provide an ionic conductive
path through the soluble ionic salt (KCl). The Luggin capillary and salt bridge connecting the
cell and the reference electrode (RE) do not carry the polarizing current, and it serves the
purpose of reducing the ohmic resistance gradient through the electrolyte between the WE and AE. In
fact, some of the ohmic potential (E = IR) is included in the polarized potential.

Working Electrode (WE): It must be carefully prepared with a known exposed or contact area.
In fact, a 1 cm2 surface (exposed) area is desirable. The distance between the WE surface and
the tip of the Luggin capillary should be in the range of 1-2 mm In the case of metal-resin
interface is not properly prepared, crevice corrosion may lead to erroneous results. Another
important factor in carrying out electrochemical corrosion experiments is that the specimen
immersion time must be constant in order to stabilize the electrode in the electrolyte prior to
start the polarization test.

Potentiostat: A manually operated potentiostat is a stepwise instrument for measuring potential


(E) and current density (i) and develop E vs. log (i) plots. A commercially programmable
potentiostat, together with an electrometer, logarithmic converter, and data acquisition device is
an automated instrument that provides variability of continuous sweep (scan) over a desired
potential range, normally in the order of –2 V < E < 2 V for obtaining an entire polarization
curve, including the cathodic and anodic regions. This automated procedure is called
potentiodynamic polarization technique, which provides a polarization curve at desire scan
rates.

Figure 2 shows a schematic polarization curve illustrating details of the ideal parameters that can
be determined from this type of curve.
University of Technology Corrosion Engineering Lecturer: Basheer Ahmed
Chemical Engineering Dept. 4th Class

Where:
University of Technology Corrosion Engineering Lecturer: Basheer Ahmed
Chemical Engineering Dept. 4th Class

POLARIZATION CURVES (Tafel polarization)

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