Open circuit potential transients and electrochemical quartz crystal microgravimetry measurements of dissolution of copper in acidic sulfate solutions

Abstract It is demonstrated that open circuit potential transients measurements are able to give the realistic and fast information on the rate of metal corrosion. The results of the studies of the rate of copper corrosion in naturally aerated unstirred acidic sulfate solutions obtained by this method are close to the results of electrochemical quartz crystal microgravimetry measurements. It was found that within the concentration range CuSO 4 : 0.001–0.01 M, H 2 SO 4 : 0.005–0.5 M, independently of whether 0.1 M K 2 SO 4 is present in the solution or not, the rate of corrosion of thin (about several tens monolayers) and fresh deposits of copper does not depend on the solution composition and is limited by the transport of the dissolved oxygen. The rate of corrosion of such deposits sometimes exceeds the rate of corrosion of compact copper samples.