Kinetics of Corrosion

Abstract

As seen in the previous chapter, potential--pH diagrams (Pourbaix diagrams) are a useful first guide as to the corrosion behavior of many different systems. However, Pourbaix diagrams do not give any information as to corrosion rates. Although a given reaction may be spontaneous, it does not necessarily proceed at a fast rate. The reaction may in fact proceed ``slowly'' rather than ``quickly'', but we cannot determine this difference from thermodynamics alone.