Correlation between grain orientation and surface dissolution of niobium

The crystallographic orientation has a significant effect on the corrosion behavior of metals. In this work, the influence of crystallographic orientation on the surface dissolution rate of Nb was studied and the corresponding mechanism was discussed. The results show that the (1 0 0) plane exhibits a significantly lower dissolution rate compared with the (1 1 0) and (1 1 1) planes. The voltammetry results show that the (1 0 0) plane has a low oxidation peak current density compared with the (1 1 0) and (1 1 1) planes. The low corrosion rate of the (1 0 0) plane might be associated with a combination of low surface energy and a short distance to the next atom layer.