Corrosion mechanisms relevant to high-level waste repositories

The suitability of metallic iron for environmental remediation

“…When these metal ores are refined or smelted, a losing battle with thermodynamics begins with the metal tending toward formation of metallic oxides, sulphides, or carbonates depending on the working environment [18][19][20]. The rate and the extent at which a metal dissolves in an aqueous environment (immersed metal corrosion) depends on many interdependant factors [18,21,22] including: (1) the chemistry of water (pH, salinity, and concentration of chelating agents), (2) the nature of the oxide layer formed by initial metal corrosion (composition, electronic conductivity, porosity, and thickness), (3) the manufacturing history of the metal (e.g. whether the metal been cast, forged, wrought, or welded), and (4) the metal thermodynamic susceptibility to oxidation (position on the reduction-potential scale).…”

Characterizing the reactivity of metallic iron in Fe0/EDTA/H2O systems with column experiments

“…To date there is no standard parameter to evaluate the intrinsic reactivity of Fe 0 materials [17]. However, it is well known that, the metal type and method of manufacture are as important as the environment (solution corrosiveness) for corrosion processes [18]. Clearly, the presence and amount of alloying and other foreign elements, the size of the material, and whether the metal is cast, forged, wrought or welded are critical to material intrinsic reactivity (corrodibility).…”

Characterizing the reactivity of metallic iron upon methylene blue discoloration in Fe0/MnO2/H2O systems

“…Orden [8], whether a metal is cast, forged, wrought or welded are as important as the environment in the corrosion process. One major limitation of the current material testing procedures is that each material is used for remediation tests and the reactivity is ascertained at the end of the possibly cost-intensive and time consuming experiments.…”