Atmospheric Corrosion of Copper Alloys Exposed for 15 to 20 Years

Abstract

Copper alloys were exposed for 15 to 20 years at two marine, one industrial, and one rural location. Based on average corrosion rates for 13 alloys, the industrial corrosion rate was 1.4 µm/year whereas the rate for the other sites was approximately 0.7 µm/year. As expected, alloying agents affected the corrosion rates by a factor of 2 to 3. General attack was the predominant form of corrosion. Dezincification was positively identified in C260 alloy and intergranular attack was noted in C642. Pitting was not a factor for any alloy.

Survey of degradation modes of candidate materials for high-level radioactive-waste disposal containers

“…Atmospheric corrosion tests were performed in temperate climates by Costas [90] at four sites in the United States. Two of the sites were marine (Point Reyes, California; and Kure Beach, North Carolina), one was rural (State College, Pennsyl vania), and one was industrial (Newark, New Jersey).…”

“…Two of the sites were marine (Point Reyes, California; and Kure Beach, North Carolina), one was rural (State College, Pennsyl vania), and one was industrial (Newark, New Jersey). The data on corrosion rate are repro duced in Table 9 [90]. The corrosion rates appear to have stabilized or decreased at 20 yr, except possibly at the rural site.…”

In Situ Studies of the Effect of SO[sub 2] on the Initial NaCl-Induced Atmospheric Corrosion of Copper

“…Available electronically October 24, 2005. On exposure to natural weathering, copper surfaces develop a green surface layer of corrosion products, a patina. The structure and composition of the patina has been a subject of numerous investigations, [1][2][3][4][5][6] and it is known that in rural and less polluted urban atmospheres, the patina mainly consists of cuprite and copper hydroxy sulfates, such as brochantite Cu 4 ͑OH͒ 6 SO 4 and anthlerite Cu 3 ͑OH͒ 4 SO 4 . 6 In marine environments copper hydroxyl chloride is an important component in addition to cuprite and copper hydroxy sulfates.…”