Author(s)

A. Abdurrahim & R. Akid

Abstract

The scanning vibrating electrode technique, also known as SVET, is a relatively new technique which offers the opportunity to obtain information concerning corrosion activity on a small scale. However, its utilisation to investigate the corrosion of welds has been limited. SVET experiments were carried out on specimens of different welded sections within two different electrolytes, e.g., 0.35% NaCl solution alone and buffered 0.35% NaCl solution with CO2 saturations. SVET was used during these investigations to evaluate preferential corrosion susceptibilities of weldments. Keywords: SVET, localised corrosion, weldments. 1 Introduction The scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET) is an electrochemical method, which is able to resolve and quantify highly localised corrosion currents occurring at the metal-electrolyte interface [1]. It consists of a platinum microelectrode tip at the end of insulated wire thinned down to a fine point, positioned close to the surface to be scanned. A schematic of the SVET arrangement is given in Figure 1. The SVET microtip electrode is vibrated mechanically at a constant amplitude and frequency using a simple electromagnetic or piezoelectric driver [2,3]. The SVET has found a wide range of applications in the study of localised corrosion phenomena [4,5].

Keywords

SVET, localised corrosion, weldments.