Corrosion and Oxide-Free Surfaces Probed by Surface Analysis

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With the support of the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, Professor Sherwood and his coworkers at Kansas State University are exploring the corrosion of reactive metals in contact with liquids. Using anaerobic and UHV transfer cell methods, coupled with direct abrasion methods in deoxygenated solutions, oxide free metal surfaces are prepared and exposed to phosphate and other corrosion resistant overlayers. These layers, and the mechanisms of their formation and stability, are examined using a range of surface sensitive probes, principally valence band photoelectron spectroscopy. Coupled with quantum chemistry calculations for spectral assignment, this suite of tools provides a detailed and powerful probe of the complex chemistry of the corrosion process. These tools are being made widely available to the surface science community as a result of this research project. Understanding the process of corrosion and oxidation on structural metal surfaces is an issue of vital economic importance. Professor Sherwood and his colleagues at Kansas State University are studying this process using a variety of tools that allow the formation of well-characterized oxide and phosphate overlayers, and their analysis using photoelectron spectroscopic methods. This work promises a fundamental understanding of corrosion and corrosion prevention, significant real-world problems.