Modeling the Effects of Crevice Former, Particulates , and the Evolving Surface Profile in Crevice Corrosion

Crevice corrosion may initiate in confined regions due to transport limitations, followed by an accumulation of a highly corrosive chemistry, capable of dissolving the metal. The metal and the crevice former surface roughness, the presence of particulates under the crevice former and the accumulation of solid corrosion products at the corroding site would significantly affect the current and potential distribution at the anode by increasing the ohmic potential drop. Most crevice corrosion models focus on a smooth walled crevice of uniform gap and do not account for the changing profile after crevice corrosion has been initiated. In this work we analyze the crevice (anodic) region and apply current and potential distribution models to examine the effects of the perturbed surface topography. The analysis focuses on three related issues: (1) the effects of surface roughness of the metal and the crevice former, (2) the effects of particulates under the crevice former, and (3) the evolution of the crevice profile with corrosion product accumulation at the active, anodic region