Research report 2006 - Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society

Microscopic Investigations of Corrosion Processes on Stainless Steel

Authors
Rotermund, Harm Hinrich, Dornhege, Monika, Punckt, Christian
Departments

Physikalische Chemie (Prof. Dr. Martin Wolf)
Fritz-Haber-Institut der MPG, Berlin

Summary
We present in situ real-time observations of pitting corrosion as it spreads across the surface of stainless steel in an electrolytic solution. By applying simultaneously two different imaging methods, i.e. ellipsomicroscopy and contrast-enhanced microscopy, the correlation between oxide film weakening and the nucleation and reactivation of individual pits is examined. The existence of front propagation as a component of the transition to pitting corrosion shows that characteristics of this process are consistent with the behavior of stochastic reaction-diffusion systems .

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