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Concept
Pitting corrosion
Summary
Pitting corrosion, or pitting, is a form of extremely localized corrosion that leads to the random creation of small holes in metal. The driving power for pitting corrosion is the depassivation of a small area, which becomes anodic (oxidation reaction) while an unknown but potentially vast area becomes cathodic (reduction reaction), leading to very localized galvanic corrosion. The corrosion penetrates the mass of the metal, with a limited diffusion of ions.
Another term arises, pitting factor, which is defined as the ratio of the depth of the deepest pit (resulting due to corrosion) to the average penetration, which can be calculated based on the weight loss.
According to Frankel (1998) who performed a review on pitting corrosion, it develops in three successive steps: (or nucleation) by breakdown of the passive film protecting the metal surface from oxidation, (2) growth of metastable pits (growing up to the micron scale and then repassivating), and (3) the growth of larger and stable pits.
The evolution of the pit density (number of pits per surface area) as a function of time follows a sigmoid curve with the characteristic shape of a logistic function curve, or a hyperbolic tangent. Guo et al. (2018), after a statistical analysis of hundreds of individual pits observed on carbon steel surfaces at the nano-to-micro- scales, distinguish three stages of pitting corrosion: induction, propagation, and saturation.
The pit formation can be essentially regarded as a two step process: nucleation followed by a growth.
The process of pit nucleation is initiated by the depassivation of the protective oxide layer isolating the metal substrate from the aggressive solution. The depassivation of the protective oxide layer is the less properly understood step in pitting corrosion and its very local and random appearance probably its most enigmatic characteristic. Mechanical or physical damages may locally disrupt the protective layer. Crystalline defects, or impurity inclusions, pre-existing in the base metal material can also serve as nucleation points (especially metal sulfide inclusions).
Official source
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