Date of Award

2011-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor(s)

Arturo Bronson

Abstract

The investigation focused on the corrosion of galvanized steel exposed to soil. The primary objective of the study was to develop a technique for monitoring the corrosion behavior of samples in the field by measuring the potential and current with respect to time (or electrochemical noise). Electrochemical electrodes were designed to simulate the galvanized steel in contact with thin electrolytes which are usually generated in soils as they collect and drain rain water depending on soil porosity.

The corrosion behavior of the galvanized steel was also studied by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) coupled with potentiokinetic scans to predict the corrosion rate the galvanized steel immersed in solutions ranging from 0.0001 M to 0.1 NaCl. The corrosion rate for the galvanized steel reached 37.5 mils/yr (or 952.09 µm/year) at the high chloride content (i.e., 0.1 M NaCl) and 0.314 mils/year (7.97 µm/year) for the low chloride content (i.e., 0.0001 M NaCl). In comparing the corrosion rates available from field bilogarithmic trends and the acquired laboratory studies, the laboratory corrosion rates of 0.314 and 37.484 μm/yr at 0.0001 and 0.001 M NaCl, respectively, corresponded to the field corrosion rate of 20 μm/yr at 200 ppm Cl (approximating 0.0002 M Cl).

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

113 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Carlos E. Castillo

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Engineering Commons

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