A. Venugopal et al., Electrochemistry and corrosion of beryllium in buffered and unbuffered chloride solutions, J ELCHEM SO, 147(10), 2000, pp. 3673-3679
The electrochemical behavior of Be (99%) in buffered and unbuffered chlorid
e solutions is reported. Anodic oxidation and hydrogen evolution partial cu
rrents were delineated by measuring the total current density and the rate
of evolution of hydrogen from the metal surface. The partial anodic current
density is found to decrease with increasing voltage within the passive ra
nge at low voltages, but it tends toward a constant value at high voltages.
Beryllium is observed to undergo passivity breakdown in chloride solutions
, with the dependencies of the breakdown voltage on chloride concentration
and pH being in accordance with the predictions of the point defect model.
The barrier layer on beryllium in contact with aqueous solutions is most li
kely defective BeO, with the principal defects bring oxygen vacancies and/o
r beryllium interstitials. However, the present data do not discount the po
ssibility that the barrier layer is the hydride, BeHx (x less than or equal
to 2). (C) 2000 The Electrochemical Society. S0013-4651(99)04-032-X. All r
ights reserved.