REFLECTIONS CONCERNING THE COPPER CORROSION IN LIQUID ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental results of copper corrosion in different liquid environments. The researchers Ives and Rawson managed to display what causes the copper to deteriorate in water. Thus, they believe that the dissolution rate increases as the oxydic film's thickness increases. In this way, the copper oxide produced in this way, gains properties similar to the property of the copper oxide formed directly by the oxygen, which is following a logarithmic law.The copper dissolving is based on the thermodynamics of the (anaerobic) chemical reaction. In this way, the accumulation of copper oxide decreases the corrosion rate.It is considered that the penetration of chlorides among the oxide layers occurs through cracks and crystalline defects; hence appear points of corrosion (pitting) which connects one another in the course of time, transforming themselves into stains or even plagues, putting in danger the copper's crystalline structure.