The dissolution rate of cadmium was measured in various nitrogen-and oxygen-saturated acidic sulfate solutions under potentiostatic conditions. At a given potential, the aissolution rate was found to be greater in O2-than in N2-saturated solutions. A dissolution mechanism is proposed which explains this phenomena as well as results from tests in which potential, solution agitation, and solution composition were varied. According to this mechanism Cd + ions are formed as intermediates and are then oxidized to the product Cd +2 ions by a chemical path involving O2 as well as by the conventional electrochemical path.Uniform corrosion of a metal in solution is most frequently explained in terms of the electrochemical polarization curves for the independent processes, i.e., metal oxidation and H + or 02 reduction [e.g., see Ref.(1-4)]. The polarization curves for the part reactions are added to yield that for the over-all system. This type of treatment is useful in explaining corrosion, passivation, and protection phenomena. It also has been recommended as a means for accelerated corrosion testing [e.g., Ref. (2,5)]. In the latter application the Tafel curves for one or both half-reactions (assuming one predominant cathodic and one predominant anodic reaction) are obtained by suppressing the opposite reaction. The Tafel curve is then extrapolated to the measured corrosion (mixed) potential or the two Tafel curves are extrapolated to the point of overlap to yield the corrosion current. The above superposition procedures are a means of replacing lengthy weight-loss or assay-dependent tests with one rapid electrochemical test. In order for this superposition approach to function it is necessary that the rate and kinetics of each partial reaction be independent of the other partial reaction(s) at a given potential. This independence of partial processes has been shown for several combinations of reductant (metals or hydrogen) and oxidant (5-9), and consequently would appear to be quite general. However, independence of the partial processes is not a necessary criteria for charge and mass balance across the electrode-solution interface, as suggested in some previous work (10, 12). Also an experimental attempt to obtain the corrosion rate of copper in oxygenated acid sulfate solutions by extrapolating the anodic copper polarization curve gave a corrosion rate which was erroneously low (11). ~ In the latter work (11) studies were made to determine why the partial processes were not independent when coupled, and a mechanism was proposed to explain the results.The present study was made to investigate other systems for which the partial processes are not independent, as part of an evaluation of the superposition means of accelerated corrosion testing. Cadmium in acidic sulfate solutions was the metal chosen for study because previous work (13) suggests it dissolves as Cd +2 ions via a Cd +1 intermediate; such an intermediate offers a vehicle for interactions between the part reactions. Both H + ions and O2 were studied as oxid...