Coatings Formed On Corroded Metals And Alloys

As the coating formed affects the corrosion rate, duplicate samples of eight non-ferrous alloys were placed in flowing mine water. The alloys tested were as-cast or as-rolled and machined or polished. The paper describes the tests and gives the corrosion losses and the appearance of the samples at the end of the test. AN IMPORTANT factor affecting the rate and nature of corrosion of metals and alloys is the film, or coating, formed on the surface; and this may accelerate or retard corrosive action once started. The formation of films and coatings is intimately associated with the chemical composition and physical constitution of both the metal and the corroding medium. A film or coating may be either the corrosion product resulting from oxidation; that is, an oxide or salt, or a deposition of suspended matter from the corroding media upon the surface of the metal, or a mixture of both. The coating may adhere tightly or loosely to the surface of the corroded metal. In short, a film or coating is the reaction product of the corroding medium and the metal, which adheres to the surface of the metal and with which may be intermingled material from the attacking media not concerned in the chemical reactions. As the, terms film and coating are used by different writers for very different things, distinction is made between the two, by the present writers, on the basis of thickness. Thus, a film is defined as a corrosion product or deposition, on the surface of a corroded metal, that is of such thickness that it cannot be measured by the metallurgical microscope. A coating, on the other hand, is of such thickness that it can be measured. If the resolving power of the 2 mm. (equivalent focal length) apochromatic oil immersion objective (N.A. 1.4) is taken as the limit of the microscope, the limiting resolution is two lines that are 0.0002-0.0004 mm. apart. It is thus possible to measure coatings that are greater than 0.0002-0.0004 mm. thick. This thickness is equivalent to 200,000-