Water Layer in Course of Corrosion of Copper in Humid Air Containing

The technique for in situ simultaneous measurements of IR-RAS and QCM, which has been developed for investigation of corrosion in gaseous environments, was employed to study the effects of an extremely thin water layer on the corrosion rate. An evaporated copper film on a QCM element was exposed to air containing water vapor and $SO_2$, and time-resolved IR-RAS spectra were measured and mass gains were simultaneously followed with QCM. The tested ranges of relative humidity (RH) and concentration of $SO_2$ were 60% - 90% and 1 - 20 ppm, respectively. On the basis of 2D-IR analysis, the corrosion products were determined to be Chevreul's salt ($CuSO_3Cu_2SO_3{\cdot}2H_2O$) and $CuSO_4{\cdot}5H_2O$. By constructing curves of the relations between band intensities of IR spectra and mass gains of QCM for the corrosion products, the time variations in each product were determined from spectral experiments on copper plates. The thicknesses of physically adsorbed water layers in course of the corrosion process were also determined from water band intensities. The results showed that the thickness of the physically adsorbed water layer increased with increase in RH, and it also increased with increase in accumulation of corrosion products. The latter is probably due to the capillary effect of the corrosion products.