Abstract
The need to classify environments with respect to their corrosivity is important for a rational choice of preventive measures. One way to characterise a given indoor environment is to determine the corrosivity by measuring the corrosion attack on coupons of metals exposed to the atmosphere. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the agreement between different measuring techniques for the quantitative evaluation of corrosion effects of silver and copper in indoor conditions in order to find reliable corrosion measuring methods for low corrosivity environments. Measurements based on mass increase, mass loss, electrolytic cathodic reduction, and resistance sensors have been evaluated. The results show that mass increase measurements of copper and measurements with copper sensors give a good correlation with mass loss measurements. Cathodic reduction measurements for copper underestimate the corrosion effect. Mass increase and resistance sensor measurements of silver both seem to overestimate the corrosion effect. The formation of uneven corrosion films and the presence of soluble corrosion products make electrolytic cathodic reduction inaccurate for corrosion measurements of silver. For a better understanding of the accuracy of the investi gated techniques for silver corrosion measurements, procedures for mass loss determination need to be developed.
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