• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.1315-1322
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• 2009

The present article is concerned with the application of an electrochemical noise (EN) monitoring technique to analyze the initiation and propagation of Pb-assisted stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of an Alloy 600 material in a simulated environment of a steam generator (SG) sludge pile at high temperatures. A typical increase of electrochemical current noise (ECN) and electrochemical potential noise (EPN) was frequently recorded from the EN measurement in a caustic solution with such impurities as PbO and CuO, indicating that there are localized corrosion events occurring. With the aid of microscopic and spectral analyses, the EN data involving information on such stochastic processes as uniform corrosion and the initiation and propagation of SCC, were analyzed based on a stochastic theory.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.220-226
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• 2013

The uncertainty in statistical noise resistance measurement was evaluated for a type 316 stainless steel in NaCl solutions at room temperature. Sensitivity coefficients were determined for measurands or variables such as NaCl concentration, pH, solution temperature, surface roughness, inert gas flow rate and bias potential amplitude. The coefficients were larger for the variables such as NaCl concentration, pH, inert gas flow rate and solution temperature, and they were the major factors increasing the combined standard uncertainty of noise resistance. However, the contribution to the uncertainty in noise resistance measurement from the above variables was remarkably low compared to that from repeated measurements of noise resistance, and thus, it is difficult to lower the uncertainty in noise resistance measurement significantly by lowering the uncertainties related with NaCl concentration, pH, inert gas flow rate and solution temperature. In addition, the uncertainty in noise resistance measurement was high amounting to 17.3 % of the mean, indicating that the reliability in measurement of noise resistance is low.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.203-207
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• 2009

Electrochemical methods have been widely used to study the performances and mechanisms for the degradation of organic and inorganic coatings. In this study, EN(Electrochemical noise) measurement was applied to the protective properties and review the parameters analyzed noise signals in the time and in the frequency domain for epoxy resin based coated steels during exposure to hot sea water($40^{\circ}C$) and salt spray for 200 days. It was also found that $R_n$(Noise resistance), $R_{sn}$($f_{min}$)(Spectral noise resistance) and 2H(Hurst exponent) represented the performance of epoxy coated steels. $R_n$ can be determined as the ratio of the standard deviations of potential and current noise signals and is decreased to exposure time. Data qualities can be easily checked by PSD(Power Spectral Density) plot and $V_{psd}$, $I_{psd}$ and $R_{sn}$($f_{min}$) is useful to research the protective performances and mechanisms of coated steels. Hurst exponent represents the degradation of coated steels. But, it is difficult to directly apply the protective criterion to the evaluation of epoxy coated steels used the shipbuilding processes.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.93-101
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• 2013

The object of this work is to establish an electrochemical noise(EN) measurement technique combined with a direct current potential drop(DCPD) method for monitoring of localized corrosion cracking of nickel-based alloy, and to analyze its mechanism. The electrochemical current and potential noises were measured under various conditions of applied stress to a compact tension specimen in a simulated primary water chemistry of a pressurized water reactor. The amplitude and frequency of the EN signals were evaluated in both time and frequency domains based on a shot noise theory, and then quantitatively analyzed using statistical Weibull distribution function. From the spectral analysis, the effect of the current application in DCPD was found to be effectively excluded from the EN signals generated from the localized corrosion cracking. With the aid of a microstructural analysis, the relationship between EN signals and the localized corrosion cracking mechanism was investigated by comparing the shape parameter of Weibull distribution of a mean time-to-failure.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.713-719
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• 1991

Electrochemical impedance measurement system using Fourier transform was constructed in the range of the frequencies up to 100 kHz. This system consists of pseudo-random noise generator, specially designed potentiostat, fast data acquisition system, system controller, and computer interface. The performance of the constructed system was found to be almost same as the commercially available system using lock-in amplifier. Measuring time was significantly reduced because the minimum time for the measurement depended on one cycle of the lowest frequency used. It would be possible to study time-varying electrochemical impedance systems such as the initial stages of corrosion processes using this system.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.261-268
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• 2007

Embedded sensors were used as an in-situcorrosion-sensing device for aircraft and vehicular structures protected by organic coatings. Results are presented changes associated with a standard Airforce aircraft coating and a standard Army vehicle coating were monitored by embedded sensors. These coatings consisted of a polyurethane topcoat and an epoxy primer, however are formulated to provide different characteristics. The ac-dc-ac testing method was used to accelerate the degradation of these coatings while being immersed in a NaCl medium. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and electrochemical noise measurement experiments were used to monitor the induced changes. A comparison of the results between coatings subjected to the ac-dc-ac exposure and coatings subjected to only constant immersion in the NaCl medium is presented. The results were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the ac-dc-ac method at accelerating the degradation of an organic coating without observably changing the normal mechanism of degradation. The data highlights the different features of the coating systems and tracks them while the coating is being degraded. The aircraft coating was characterized by a high-resistant topcoat that can mask corrosion/primer degradation at the primer/substrate interface whereas the vehicle coating was characterized by a low-resistant topcoat with an effective corrosion inhibiting primer. Details of the ac-dc-ac degradation were evaluated by using an equivalent circuit to help interpret the electrochemical impedance data.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2003

Effects of the precipitation of $\sigma$ phase on the metastable pitting as a precursor of stable pitting corrosion and also on the progress of stale pitting of the 25Cr-7Ni-3Mo-0.25N duplex stainless steel were investigated in chloride solution. Electrochemical potential and current noises of the alloy were measured in 10 % ferric chloride solution ($FeCl_3$) with zero resistance ammeter (ZRA), and then analyzed by power spectral density (PSD) and by corrosion admittance ($A_c$) spectrum. With aging at $850^{\circ}C$, the passive film of the alloy was found to get significantly unstable as represented by power spectral density (PSD) and a transition from metastable pitting state to stable one was observed. In the corrosion admittance spectrum, the number of negative $A_c$ corresponding to the state of localized corrosion increased with aging, suggesting that the precipitation of $\sigma$ phase considerably degraded the passive film by depleting Cr and Mo around it at $\alpha/\sigma$ or $\gamma/\sigma$ phase boundaries, thereby leading to the initiation of the pitting corrosion. However, the Cr and Mo at $\alpha/\sigma$ or $\gamma/\sigma$ phase boundaries which were once depleted due to the precipitation of the $\sigma$ phase were partly replenished by the diffusion of Cr and Mo from the surrounding matrix with aging time longer. The initiation of pitting seems to be associated with the precipitation density of the $\sigma$ phase with an effective size needed to induce the sufficient depletion of Cr and Mo around it.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2008

In this paper, a low-cost impedance spectroscopy system(LCISS) suitable for modeling the electrochemical power sources such as fuel cells, batteries and supercapacitors is designed and implemented. Since the developed LCISS is composed of simple sensor circuits, commercial data acquisition board and LabVIEW software, a graphic language with powerful HMI(Human-Machine Interface), it is expected ta be widely used in substitution of the expensive EIS instruments. In the proposed system, the digital lock-in amplifier is adopted to achieve the accurate measurements even in the presence of the high level of noises. The developed hardware and software is applied to measure the impedance spectrum of the Ballard Nexa 1.2kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack and an equivalent impedance model is proposed based on the measurement results. The validity of the proposed equivalent circuit and the developed system is proven by the measurement of the ac power losses of the PEM fuel celt stack by the ripple current.