Introduction to Corrosion for Constructive Purposes

Principles of metallic corrosion play a fundamental role in developing industrial processes that employ corrosion for constructive purposes. This article examines the changes in kinetics that occur with differentially small potential changes around the equilibrium electrode potentials of two reversible electrodes, such as copper and silver electrodes, in an electrochemical system. It provides a schematic illustration of a reversible cell with copper and silver electrodes to determine a reversible cell potential between the electrodes. An electrode becomes irreversible when the electrode reactions are displaced from equilibrium and the electrode potential is no longer at the equilibrium potential. The article describes irreversible cell potential by using galvanic cells, electrolytic cells, and corrosion cells.