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An Accelerated Electrochemical MIC Test for Stainless Alloys

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

T.S. Gendron
Affiliation:
AECL Research, Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada, K0J 1J0
R.D. Cleland
Affiliation:
AECL Research, Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada, K0J 1J0
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Abstract

Previous work in our laboratory and elsewhere has suggested that MIC of stainless steels and nickel-base alloys occurs in locally anaerobic regions that support the growth of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). The cathodic reaction is provided by oxygen reduction at remote sites. Such a coupling between anode and cathode is difficult to reproduce in the laboratory, but can be simulated indirectly using a double electrochemical cell, as in previous work. A more realistic simulation using a single aerated electrochemical cell has now been developed, in which a second organism (P. aeruginosa) is used to provide an anoxic habitat for SRB growth and possibly a source of organic carbon, within a layer of silt. A bare alloy electrode is used as the oxygen cathode. Tests of this kind using rigorous microbiological procedures have generated pitting corrosion of several alloys in low chloride media simulating freshwater heat exchanger conditions. Similar test procedures are applicable to other environments of interest to this symposium.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

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References

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