Kinetics in low-temperature-isothermal oxidation of tungsten carbide under different humidity conditions

The isothermal oxidation experiments of tungsten carbides (WC) were carried out at levels of inequality in relative humidity (RH) levels and below 200 °C. Evaluated resistivity fluctuations and structural transformations during the low-temperature corrosion process were detected. In this paper, we present a detailed investigation into the resistivity behavior of WC under varying humidity conditions. Our innovative approach enabled us to witness a rapid decrease in resistivity under conditions of 85 % RH and 85 °C, from 0.00374 Ω-cm to 0.00177 Ω-cm, followed by a stable linear increase after 0.7 h at a constant rate of 0.000924 Ω-cm/h. Notably, a clear correlation between humidity levels and resistance change rates was found, where higher humidity led to faster resistivity changes. In sharp contrast, a resistivity change rate of less than 5 % under the conditions of water and oxygen independently was observed. The low-temperature oxidation mechanism of WC was described by XRD and XPS spectra. Moreover, the Nernst-Einstein equation and Wagner's model are used to establish the relationship between resistivity and oxidation degree for analyzing and predicting the reaction kinetics and oxidation behavior , indicating that the oxidation degree of WC increased logarithmically with oxidation time.