Use of scanning reference electrode technique for characterizing pitting and general corrosion of carbon steel in neutral media

Electrochemical Impedance Imaging on Conductive Surfaces

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a powerful tool to measure and quantify the system impedance. However, EIS only provides an average result from the entire electrode surface. Here, we demonstrated a reflection impedance microscope (RIM) that allows us to image and quantify the localized impedance on conductive surfaces. The RIM is based on the sensitive dependence between the materials' optical properties, such as permittivity, and their local surface charge densities. The localized charge density variations introduced by the impedance measurements will lead to optical reflectivity changes on electrode surfaces. Our experiments demonstrated that reflectivity modulations are linearly proportional to the surface charge density on the electrode and the measurements show good agreement with the simple free electron gas model. The localized impedance distribution was successfully extracted from the reflectivity measurements together with the Randles equivalent circuit model. In addition, RIM is used to quantify the impedance on different conductive surfaces, such as indium tin oxide, gold film, and stainless steel electrodes. A polydimethylsiloxane-patterned electrode surface was used to demonstrate the impedance imaging capability of RIM. In the end, a single-cell impedance imaging was obtained by RIM.

Studies on Pitting Corrosion of Al-Cu-Li Alloys Part II: Breakdown Potential and Pit Initiation

Prediction of the accumulated pitting corrosion damage in aluminum-lithium (Al-Li) is of great importance due to the wide application of these alloys in the aerospace industry. The Point Defect Model (PDM) is arguably one of the most well-developed techniques for evaluating the electrochemical behavior of passive metals. In this paper, the passivity breakdown and pitting corrosion performance of AA 2098-T851 was investigated using the PDM with the potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) technique in NaCl solutions at different scan rates, Cl⁻ concentrations and pH. Both the PDM predictions and experiments reveal linear relationships between the critical breakdown potential (E_c) of the alloy and various independent variables, such as aCl− and pH. Optimization of the PDM of the near-normally distributed E_c as measured in at least 20 replicate experiments under each set of conditions, allowing for the estimation of some of the critical parameters on barrier layer generation and dissolution, such as the critical areal concentration of condensed cation vacancies (ξ) at the metal/barrier layer interface and the mean diffusivity of the cation vacancy in the barrier layer (D). With these values obtained—using PDM optimization—in one set of conditions, the E_c distribution can be predicted for any other set of conditions (combinations of aCl−, pH and T). The PDM predictions and experimental observations in this work are in close agreement.

Electrochemical and Friction Characteristics of Metallic Glass Composites at the Microstructural Length-scales

Metallic glass composites represent a unique alloy design strategy comprising of in situ crystalline dendrites in an amorphous matrix to achieve damage tolerance unseen in conventional structural materials. They are promising for a range of advanced applications including spacecraft gears, high-performance sporting goods and bio-implants, all of which demand high surface degradation resistance. Here, we evaluated the phase-specific electrochemical and friction characteristics of a Zr-based metallic glass composite, Zr56.2Ti13.8Nb5.0Cu6.9Ni5.6Be12.5, which comprised roughly of 40% by volume crystalline dendrites in an amorphous matrix. The amorphous matrix showed higher hardness and friction coefficient compared to the crystalline dendrites. But sliding reciprocating tests for the composite revealed inter-phase delamination rather than preferred wearing of one phase. Pitting during potentiodynamic polarization in NaCl solution was prevalent at the inter-phase boundary, confirming that galvanic coupling was the predominant corrosion mechanism. Scanning vibration electrode technique demonstrated that the amorphous matrix corroded much faster than the crystalline dendrites due to its unfavorable chemistry. Relative work function values measured using scanning kelvin probe showed the amorphous matrix to be more electropositive, which explain its preferred corrosion over the crystalline dendrites as well as its characteristic friction behavior. This study paves the way for careful partitioning of elements between the two phases in a metallic glass composite to tune its surface degradation behavior for a range of advanced applications.