Study of Steel Corrosion by Application of Neutron Activation Analysis

Abstract

For the study f the precise corrosion process a method of neutron instrumental activation analysis for evaluating of constructional material usability in various chemical industry equipment was used. Steel specimens having a size of 20 mm × 15 mm × 0,3 mm were irradiated in a reactor VVR-S during 80 hours at a neutron flux of 2 × 1017 nm−2 s−1. The cooling time before starting the corrosion experiment was one month. The corrosion tests were performed according to a Czechoslovak Standard. Liquid portions of the corrosion medium taken during the corrosion process were measured gamma-spectrometrically. The experiments gave evidence that in the initial stage of corrosion the compounds of metal are dissolving unequable. In the next phase a steady state is set up, but in many cases the disproportion in solubility of the compounds lasted on. In practice it is very important to know corrosion speed and ratio in a steady state.