SQUID technology applied to the study of electrochemical corrosion

Abstract

Both the temporal and spatial dependences of the magnetic fields of electrochemical corrosion reactions have been investigated. A comparatively simple metal-electrolyte system, Zn in HCl, was chosen for concentrated study. Design of this corrosion cell, as well as its rationale, are described. The spectral density of the magnetic field generated by corrosion reactions has an inverse dependence on frequency. The overall noise level increases with increasing corrosion rate. These preliminary results confirm the great potential of SQUID magnetometry for the study of electrochemical corrosion phenomena.