The Effect of Crevice‐Opening Dimension on the Stability of Crevice Corrosion for Nickel in Sulfuric Acid

Abstract

The role of the crevice‐opening dimension, a, on the stability of crevice corrosion was investigated in the Ni/1 N system. The electrode potential and current distributions inside the crevice were measured and calculated, respectively. Other variables, in particular the composition of the electrolyte, were constrained from changing during the experiment. The passive/active boundary, xpass, moved further into the crevice for increasing a, and was in close agreement with the calculated value using the IR = δΦ* relation. A sharp upper limiting value, alim, for a given crevice depth, l, above which crevice corrosion does not occur, was predicted and experimentally observed. The potential Epass at xpass on the crevice wall corresponded approximately to the potential of the passive/active transition of the bulk solution polarization curve.