Academic literature on the topic 'Cathodic polarisation'

The effects of cathodic polarisation switch-off on the passivation of AISI 304L stainless steel in air and its crevice corrosion susceptibility in 3.5 wt.% NaCl aqueous electrolyte were investigated. Scanning Kelvin probe (SKP) data showed that the oxide film is significantly destabilised and the rate of steel passivation in air is slowed down. Thermal desorption analysis (TDA) highlighted that hydrogen absorption is proportional to the applied cathodic current density. A special crevice corrosion set-up was designed to realise simultaneous reproducible monitoring of potential and galvanic current to study the impact of prior cathodic polarisation on crevice corrosion onset.

Criteria for the successful application of cathodic protection (CP) for steel reinforced concrete have been fixed for decades and form part of ISO EN12696. The most used criterion is the achievement of 100 mV depolarization over a period not exceeding 24 hours after discontinuation of the applied current. Although more empirical than theoretically based, the criterion has served the CP industry well. It does, however, exclude any systems that may not always achieve that level of depolarization but have been shown to offer adequate protection, and so there is a need to explore ways of assessing depolarisation data more effectively. On a fundamental level, non-linear polarisation, as described by the Butler Volmer equation, relates corrosion rate to polarisation for a given applied current density and shows that at low current densities, estimated corrosion rates can be shown to be still insignificant at less than 100 mV polarisations. This paper explores the use of non-linear polarisation as an additional supportive criterion based on the measured 24-hour depolarisation level for a known applied current density and tests its applicability in the laboratory and in the field. It speculates that a reducing apparent corrosion current density trend in combination with a depolarised potential moving in a more noble direction is likely to be a suitable alternative criterion, where 100 mV depolarisation is not achieved.