Effect of Ar ion irradiation on electrochemical behaviors of ziraloy-4

In order to investigate the effect of the damage on the electrochemical beh avior, zircaloy-4 specimens were irradiated by Ar ions using an accelerator at an energy of 50 keV, with doses from 3 x 10(14) to 3 x 10(16) ions/cm(2 ) at liquid nitrogen temperature. Potentiodynamic polarization measurements were employed to evaluate the corrosion resistance of zircaloy-4 in a 0.5 M H2SO4 water solution at room temperature. A damage efficiency function on the passive current density of the polarization curve was defined and dedu ced theoretically. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.