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Copper corrosion in buffered and non-buffered synthetic seawater: a comparative study

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Abstract

The electrochemical behaviour of copper in neutral buffered and non-buffered synthetic seawater and in pure chloride solutions has been studied by cyclic voltammetry, weight loss measurements, open circuit potential and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Values of the repassivation potentials of Cu in non-buffered and buffered synthetic seawater, at 50 mV s−1, were 0.12 and 0.46 V vs. SCE, respectively. The sharpness, heights and location of the different peaks as well as their charges were shown to be influenced by the composition of the solution, buffering conditions, deoxygenation, polarization potential and time. High chloride concentrations lead to higher oxidation charges. The anodic and the cathodic charges were shown to increase as the chloride concentration increases. The open circuit potential transients of copper in non-deoxygenated, non-buffered synthetic seawater indicate pitting from the beginning of the exposure, while in buffered solutions the pitting appeared only after a quite long exposure period, i.e. after 40 days. Corrosion rates of Cu samples after 3 months of immersion were higher in solutions of pure chloride (0.5 M) than in synthetic seawater. After six months the differences were even more noticeable. SEM images have showed a somewhat higher density of pits on copper samples immersed in the chloride solution (0.5 M), in comparison with those in synthetic seawater.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for providing financial support to Centro de Electroquímica e Cinética da Universidade de Lisboa-CECUL – Research Unit POCTI/301/2003 (vertente FEDER). J. Ferreira thanks the FCT for a grant, in the framework of project POCTI/CTM/39846/2001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Centro de Electroquímica e Cinética da Universidade de Lisboa, R. Ernesto Vasconcelos, Ed. C8, 1749-016 , Lisbon, Portugal

    João Pedro Ferreira, João Alexandre Rodrigues & Inês Teodora Elias da Fonseca

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  1. João Pedro Ferreira
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  2. João Alexandre Rodrigues
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  3. Inês Teodora Elias da Fonseca
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Correspondence to Inês Teodora Elias da Fonseca.

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Ferreira, J.P., Rodrigues, J.A. & da Fonseca, I.T.E. Copper corrosion in buffered and non-buffered synthetic seawater: a comparative study. J Solid State Electrochem 8, 260–271 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-003-0445-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-003-0445-1

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