Atmospheric corrosion of copper under wet/dry cyclic conditions

The polarization resistance of copper subjected to NaCl and an ammonium sulfate solution under wet/dry cycling conditions was monitored using an EIS impedance technique. The copper samples were exposed to 1 h of immersion using different solutions of pH, temperature and surface orientation and 7 h of drying. The copper plates corroded more substantially on the skyward side than those for a ground ward side. The degree of protection copper oxide provides decrease in an acidic medium (pH 4) more than in a neutral medium (pH 7). The corrosion rate of copper increases rapidly during the initial stages of exposure then decreases slowly and eventually attains the steady state during the last stages of exposure. The corrosion products were analyzed using X-ray diffraction. The corrosion mechanism for copper studied under wet/dry cyclic conditions was found to proceed under the dissolution-precipitation mechanism.