RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE IMPEDANCE OF CORRODING ELECTRODE AND ITS POLARIZATION RESISTANCE DETERMINED BY A LINEAR VOLTAGE SWEEP TECHNIQUE

The polarization resistance of metallic materials in contact with an electrolyte is largely used for the evaluation of its corrosion rate. The experimental value of polarization resistance is very often determined by plotting the polarization curves at the vicinity of the rest potential by a triangular voltage sweep technique. It is found that, for materials having high resistivity against corrosion, the value of polarization resistance is largely dependent on the sweep rate or the period of sweep cycle. If an equivalent circuit of a corroding electrode is to be presented by a parallel connexion of a resistance and a capacitance, such dependence of the polarization resistance cannot be explained at all. In fact, though the impedance of corroding electrode measured within a large frequency range shows one capacitive arc in the complex plane in accordance with parallel R-C circuit, the values of R and C both depend on frequency. The current response to a triangular voltage sweep signal is calculated numerically by Heaviside operational calculus using experimentally determined electrode impedance. A fairly good agreement was found between the experimental and calculated current-voltage cycles for different periods of a triangular voltage sweep signal. © 1979.