Scanner-assisted quantitative reflectometry in the checking of corrosion-electrochemical systems

The described method for the study of the metal-electrolyte interface combines videoreflectometric and electrochemical measurements. Scanned digital optical images of a surface area in an electrolyte solution made it possible to examine a 3D structure of spatially heterogeneous surface layers composed of dissolution products of metals and alloys in liquids. Parallel electrochemical measurements allowed one to monitor the anodic and cathodic processes during the dissolution of specimens. The combined method was found to be highly sensitive to thin heterogeneous near-electrode layers, provide highly efficient corrosion checking of long specimens, and allow parallel studies of a large number of specimens. The method was tested in the in situ checking of the microtopography of a layer of products formed in the dissolution of a Cu-Ni alloy in a solution of NaCl. Original Russian Text ? V.A. Kotenev, 2007, published in Zashchita Metallov, 2007, Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 534–539.