Effects of Temperature on the Kinetics of Passive Film Growth on Iron

Abstract

Ellipsometry was used to investigate the effects of temperature and potential on the growth kinetics of passive films on iron exposed to a pH 8.6 borate buffer solution. It was found that over the temperature range of 0°–80°C the growth kinetics could be described with an equal degree of confidence by either logarithmic, inverse logarithmic, or a modified form of inverse logarithmic kinetics. None of the existing models for film growth were found to be completely consistent with the temperature and potential dependencies of the growth constants.