Effect of the applied potential on the potential and current distributions within crevices in pure nickel

The electrode potential profile within a crevice was measured in situ during crevice corrosion of nickel in 1N H₂SO₄ under conditions of effective convective mixing of the crevice and bulk electrolytes. Oxidizing power was investigated by applying potentials in the passive region. A steep potential gradient and constant pH were always measured during crevice corrosion. The magnitude of the potential drop and the distance into the crevice of the passive-to-active transition, X_pass,both increased linearly with increasing applied potential, in accordance with the IR>ΔΦ1 criterion. The in situ measured potential E_passatX_pass was, at all times, constant and in the range of the passive-to-active transition for the polarization curve of the bulk solution.