An electrochemical impedance study on atmospheric corrosion of steels in a cyclic wet-dry condition

The corrosion rates of steels with different nickel contents (0, 2.5, 10 and 20 wt%) were monitored by the AC impedance method under a cyclic wet-dry condition, which was conducted by exposure to alternate conditions of 1 h immersion in a 0.05 M NaCl solution and 7 h drying at 60% RH and 25 °C. The corrosion rates of the ordinary carbon steel and the 2.5% Ni containing steel were greatly accelerated by the wet-dry cycles, while those of steels containing at least 5% Ni were only slightly affected. AC impedance tests indicated that the addition of 5% Ni greatly reduced the corrosion rates of the steel exposed to the cyclic wet-dry environments containing chloride ions, in good agreement with one year exposure tests in the atmospheric marine environments. Within the wet-dry cycle for the carbon steel, a gradual increase in the corrosion rate and a shift of the corrosion potential to negative values were observed at the initial stage of the drying period. These indicated that the anodic metal dissolution rate was accelerated by a slight increase in the chloride ion concentration. At the intermediate stage of drying, the corrosion rate rapidly increased and the corrosion potential remained constant. This can be attributed to the acceleration of both the anodic metal dissolution process and the cathodic oxygen reduction process which is usually controlled by the rates of O2 transport through the thin electrolyte film. At the final stage, just before the surface dried out, the corrosion rate rapidly decreased, shifting the corrosion potential to the noble direction. At this stage, the anodic process was greatly inhibited. The corrosion testing system employed in this study is very useful for the rapid evaluation of the corrosion performance of metals in atmospheric marine environments and for mechanistic study.