A Correlation Between The Electrochemical Behaviours of Copper Tubes and Copper Rotating Cylinders in Synthetic Sea Water

Abstract

AbstractThe experimental conditions corresponding to those which are ascertained in a heat exchanger have been reconstructed in laboratory, with the possibility of performing very accurate electrochemical measurements. The electrochemical results have been compared with those derived from the use of simple geometric electrochemical cells. A mathematical correlation has been obtained between the electrochemical measurements obtained on a rotating cylinder and on the interior surface of a tube‐shaped electrode, through which a solution flows. It has been concluded that: the fluid‐dynamic conditions, in the two electro‐chemical cells we investigated, are comparable between each other, by an electrochemical point of view, when identical values of thickness of the limiting diffusion layers are obtained in the two cases. it is possible to utilize simple cell geometries, such as the one employing a rotating cylinder, to investigate on the corrosion problems which happen in pipes or heat exchangers, in which an electrolyte flows, (even if its aggressiveness is as high as synthetic sea water is) as a function of fluid‐dynamic conditions.