The following is a discussion of the technical note entitled "A Modified Electrochemical Expression for Corrosion Rate Measurements” by Olen L. Riggs, Jr. published in Corrosion, Vol. 26, p 243 (1970) August. Riggs' reply follows the discussion.
Mr. Riggs’ approach appears to confuse well-established approaches to electrochemical measurement of corrosion rate. Vague expressions such as “hindered electrode surfaces which function as energy zones” and “forces which overcome error effects” are neither useful nor scientifically meaningful.
Electrochemical methods which are properly conducted will always yield the total rate of oxidation which occurs on the sample surface. This rate will be equivalent to the metal corrosion (oxidation) rate in almost all cases. In rarer instances, electrochemical oxidation of some species in the corrosion environment other than the metal may occur at rates which are significant relative to the corrosion rate. Under these circumstances, the electrochemical measurement will obviously not correlate directly with...
