Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
484 words
A method of evaluating the corrosion rate of metal in a corrosive solution, comprising: (A) the step of determining the polarization resistance R p of a metal test piece having a surface area S and disposed in a corrosive solution, said step comprising: (i) instantaneously feeding a given charge q Rp to the electrical double layer of the test piece, thereby changing the potential of the test piece to have a predetermined polarization potential n Rp ; (ii) detecting, as a function of time, the variation of the polarization potential n Rp (t) of the test piece due to a corrosion reaction, using a reference electrode disposed in the corrosive solution; (iii) estimating an initial polarization potential n Rp (0) of the test piece upon completion of the charge supply (t=0), based on the polarization potential n Rp (t) detected as a function of time; and (iv) calculating the polarization resistance R p based on the given charge q Rp , initial polarization potential n Rp (0), surface area S, and the slope of log n Rp (t)-t relation; (B) the step of determining the Tafel slope β a of anodic reaction of the metal test piece, said step comprising: (i) instantaneously feeding the electrical double layer of the test piece with a charge q.sub.βa whose absolute value is larger than that of charge q Rp , thereby changing the potential of the test piece to have a predetermined polarization potential n.sub.βa whose value is positive and higher than the polarization potential n Rp ; (ii) detecting, as a function of time, the variation of the polarization potential n.sub.βa (t) of the test piece due to a corrosion reaction, using the reference electrode; and (iii) calculating the Tafel slope β a of the test piece based on the polarization potential n.sub.βa (t) of the test piece detected as a function of time, (C) the step of determining the Tafel slope β c of cathodic reaction of the metal test piece, said step comprising: (i) instantaneously feeding the electrical double layer of the test piece with a charge q.sub.βc whose absolute value is larger than that of the charge q Rp and whose polarity is opposite to that of the charge q.sub.βa, thereby changing the potential of the test piece to have a predetermined polarization potential n.sub.βc whose value is negative; (ii) detecting, as a function of time, the variation of the polarization potential n.sub.βc (t) of the test piece due to a corrosion reaction, using the reference electrode; and (iii) calculating the Tafel slope β c of the test piece based on the polarization potential n.sub.βc (t) of the test piece detected as a function of time, and (D) the step of calculating the corrosion current density I corr of the metal test piece based on the polarization resistance R p , anodic Tafel slope β a and cathodic Tafel slope β c .
Claim 2
Independent Claim
484 words
A method of evaluating the corrosion rate of metal in a corrosive solution, comprising: (A) the step of determining the polarization resistance R p of a metal test piece having a surface area S and disposed in a corrosive solution, said step comprising: (i) instantaneously feeding a given charge q Rp to the electrical double layer of the test piece, thereby changing the potential of the test piece to have a predetermined polarization potential n Rp ; (ii) detecting, as a function of time, the variation of the polarization potential n Rp (t) of the test piece due to a corrosion reaction, using a reference electrode disposed in the corrosive solution; (iii) estimating an initial polarization potential n Rp (0) of the test piece upon completion of the charge supply (t=0), based on the polarization potential n Rp (t) detected as a function of time; and (iv) calculating the polarization resistance R p based on the given charge q Rp , initial polarization potential n Rp (0), surface area S, and the slope of log n Rp (t)-t relation; (B) the step of determining the Tafel slope β a of anodic reaction of the metal test piece, said step comprising: (i) instantaneously feeding the electrical double layer of the test piece with a charge q.sub.βa whose absolute value is larger than that of charge q Rp , thereby changing the potential of the test piece to have a predetermined polarization potential n.sub.βa whose value is positive and higher than the polarization potential n Rp ; (ii) detecting, as a function of time, the variation of the polarization potential n.sub.βa (t) of the test piece due to a corrosion reaction, using the reference electrode; and (iii) calculating the Tafel slope β a of the test piece based on the polarization potential n.sub.βa (t) of the test piece detected as a function of time, (C) the step of determining the Tafel slope β c of cathodic reaction of the metal test piece, said step comprising: (i) instantaneously feeding the electrical double layer of the test piece with a charge q.sub.βc whose absolute value is larger than that of the charge q Rp and whose polarity is opposite to that of the charge q.sub.βa, thereby changing the potential of the test piece to have a predetermined polarization potential n.sub.βc whose value is negative; (ii) detecting, as a function of time, the variation of the polarization potential n.sub.βc (t) of the test piece due to a corrosion reaction, using the reference electrode; and (iii) calculating the Tafel slope β c of the test piece based on the polarization potential n.sub.βc (t) of the test piece detected as a function of time, and (D) the step of calculating the corrosion current density I corr of the metal test piece based on the polarization resistance R p , anodic Tafel slope β a and cathodic Tafel slope β c .
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
33 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said initial polarization potential η Rp (0) is obtained by extrapolating the variation of the polarization potential η Rp (t) as a function of time.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
69 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said polarization resistance R p is calculated from the differential capacitance C d of the electrical double layer of the test piece which is obtained from the charge density Δq=q/S of the charge fed to the test piece per unit area S and the initial polarization potential η Rp (0) obtained from the polarization potential variation as a function of time.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
59 words
A method according to claim 3, in which said initial polarization potential η Rp (0), said charge density Δq and said differential capacitance C d are related by the equation C d =Δ q /η Rp (0), and said polarization resistance R p is expressed by the slope of the logarithmic function log η Rp (t) versus time t.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
62 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said Tafel slope β a of anodic reaction is obtained by sampling from the variation of the polarization potential η.sub.βa (t) polarization potential η.sub.βa (t 1 ), η.sub.βa (t 2 ) and η.sub.βa (t 3 ) at times t 1 , t 2 and t 3 respectively and by using the following equation: ##EQU15##
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method according to claim 5, in which said sampling of polarization potentials is carried out in such a way as to satisfy the following equation: η.sub.βa (t.sub.1)-η.sub.βa (t.sub.2)=η.sub.βa (t.sub.2)-η.sub.βa (t.sub.3)=Δη.sub.βa, and the Tafel slope β a is obtained by the following equation: ##EQU16##
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
92 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said Tafel slope β a of anodic reaction is obtained by sampling from the variation of the polarization potential η.sub.βa (t) obtained as a function of time such polarization potentials η.sub.βa (t 1 ), η.sub.βa (t 2 ), η.sub.βa (t 3 ), . . . η.sub.βa (t n ) at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , . . . t n respectively as would satisfy the following equation: ##EQU17## and by using the following equation: β.sub.a =Δη/log δ where ##EQU18##
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
62 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said Tafel slope β c of cathodic reaction is obtained by sampling from the variation of the polarization potential η.sub.βc (t) polarization potentials η.sub.βc (t 1 ), η.sub.βc (t 2 ) and η.sub.βc (t 3 ) at times t 1 , t 2 and t 3 respectively and by using the following equation: ##EQU19##
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method according to claim 8, in which said sampling of polarization potential is carried out in such a way as to satisfy the following equation: η.sub.βc (t.sub.2)-η.sub.βc (t.sub.1)=η.sub.βc (t.sub.3)-η.sub.βc (t.sub.2)=Δη.sub.βc, and the Tafel slope β c is obtained by the following equation: ##EQU20##
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
93 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said Tafel slope β c of cathodic reaction is obtained by sampling from the variation of the polarization potential η.sub.βc (t) obtained as a function of time such polarization potentials η.sub.βc (t 1 ), η.sub.βc (t 2 ), η.sub.βc (t 3 ), . . . η.sub.βc (t n ) at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , . . . t n respectively as would satisfy the following equation: ##EQU21## and by using the following equation: β.sub.c =Δη.sub.βc /log δ, where ##EQU22##
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said predetermined polarization potential η Rp is -30.sub.mv ≦η.sub.Rp ≦+30.sub.mv
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method according to claim 11, in which said predetermined polarization potential η Rp is -10.sub.mv ≦η.sub.Rp ≦10.sub.mv.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said predetermined polarization potential η.sub.βa is 30 mV or more.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method according to claim 13, in which the predetermined polarization potential η.sub.βa is +50 mV or more.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said predetermined polarization potential η.sub.βc is -30 mV or lower.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method according to claim 15, in which the predetermined polarization potential η.sub.βc is -50 mV or lower.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
52 words
A method according to claim 1, in which after completion of any one of steps (A) to (C) a predetermined bias voltage is applied to said metal test piece, thereby bringing the potential of the test piece back to corrosion potential E corr before feeding a predetermined charge to the test piece.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method according to claim 1, in which said corrosion current density I corr of the test piece is obtained by the following Equation: I.sub.corr =(K/2.3)/R.sub.p, where K=β.sub.a β.sub.c /(β.sub.a +β.sub.c).
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
47 words
A method according to claim 18, in which the corrosion rate V of the metal test piece is obtained by the following equation: V=(M/Z·F)·I.sub.corr, where M denotes the atomic weight of the test piece, Z the valence of the dissolved metal ion, and F the Faradaic constant.