Three steel specimens were continuously exposed in the laboratory for almost 5 years in city water to which was added 3 percent by weight of sodium chloride. Two of these specimens were under continuous cathodic protection, one by current from a zinc anode, and the other by current from a rectifier through a carbon anode. The third specimen was left to corrode freely.
As a result of the cathodic protection, carbonates and silicates formed protective coatings which eventually reduced the current density required for protection from about 5 to 0.02 ma/sq ft. A coated specimen, after being without protective current for 32 days (including 12 days out of the salt water), required only 0.3 ma/sq ft for initial protection.
The instantaneous corrosion rates on the coated specimens (scratched and unscratched) while without protective currents were measured by changes-in-slope (breaks) in polarization curves. The currents at which breaks occurred in the cathodic curves were found to be related to ΔV/ΔI values from the curves, which values in turn bore a relation to the corrosion rates as measured by weight loss.
