Current Interruption Method Research Articles

Studies of Time‐Potential Changes on an Electrode Surface during Current Interruption: I . Zinc‐Steel Couple in Synthetic Sea Water

A d‐c current interrupter method has been developed for oscilloscopic studies of time‐potential changes at an electrode surface during short interruption intervals. A variable length square pulse with a very short rise time and with a duty factor of approximately one per cent was used to interrupt the current flow in a cell. Studies were conducted using interruption times from one microsecond to 120 microseconds.This interrupter technique permitted correction for the resistance error in closed circuit potential measurements. Polarization decay and build‐up could be followed as the current was cut off and turned on, and the potential changes and double layer capacity effects occurring at an electrode surface during interruption could be measured. These phenomena have been discussed in terms of an equivalent electrical circuit. An initial study of polarization phenomena on the zinc anode‐steel cathode system in a synthetic sea water electrolyte was carried out using this interrupter method.