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POTENTIOSTATIC STUDY OF IRON METEORITE CORROSION
Author(s) -
Tackett Stanford L.,
Goudy Andrew J.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
meteoritics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 0026-1114
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1972.tb00129.x
Subject(s) - kamacite , nickel , meteorite , dissolution , cobalt , electrolyte , chemistry , corrosion , inorganic chemistry , metallurgy , iron meteorite , materials science , electrode , chondrite , astrobiology , physics
A potentiostat was used to study the electrolytic corrosion of iron meteorites in a neutral solution. Low current densities were chosen so that the observed potentials would more closely approximate the theoretical Nernst values. Iron, nickel, and cobalt ions, the products of corrosion, were soluble in the electrolyte solution, and were determined after each electrolysis by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Kamacite and taenite dissolved as individual phases, with kamacite dissolving preferentially. Cobalt dissolved along with iron and nickel from each phase. There is a direct relationship between nickel content and the potential at which a meteorite first starts to dissolve; the higher the nickel content, the more resistant the meteorite is to corrosion. None of the six meteorites observed started to dissolve at a lower potential than pure iron, nor at a higher potential than pure nickel