The electrochemical evaluation of the degradation of reflector surfaces

Conference · Thu Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981 · Proc. - Electrochem. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6990154

Pohlman, S L; Russell, P M

Electrochemical techniques including potentiostatic, potentiodynamic and galvanic measurements were employed to evaluate the corrosion resistance of mirrored surfaces. Corrosion current measurements generated using a potential driven modified scratch test were used to rank the corrosion resistance of in-house and commercially made mirrors. The electrochemical ranking compared very well with resistance rankings derived from modified salt spray and alternate immersion tests, but only required a few minutes to complete as compared to hundreds of hours required to complete the environmental tests. This technique has promise as a rapid quality assurance test. Galvanic measurements have shown that silver/copper is not an active galvanic couple and copper does provide only limited cathodic protection to the silver. In fact, galvanic titration measurements between copper and silver have shown that near a pH of 10.3 and in synthetic sea water a polarity reversal occurs and silver will corrode preferentially when coupled to copper. Measurements have also shown that oxidation of tin or stannous ions and hydrogen formation at the silver/glass interface may occur.

• Research Organization: Kennecott Minerals Company Salt Lake City, Utah
• OSTI ID: 6990154
• Report Number(s): CONF-811013-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Proc. - Electrochem. Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 83-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
COATINGS
COPPER
CORROSION
CORROSION PROTECTION
CORROSION RESISTANCE
ELECTROCHEMICAL CORROSION
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
GLASS
INTERFACES
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURING METHODS
METALS
MIRRORS
OXIDATION
PROTECTIVE COATINGS
SILVER
SOLAR CONCENTRATORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR REFLECTORS
TESTING
TIN
TRANSITION ELEMENTS