A Sea Water Deaeration Procedure for Conducting Electrochemical Experiments

A technique has been developed where sea water can be deaerated quickly and efficiently in order to conduct electrochemical corrosion experiments whose results might be biased by the presence of oxygen in the electrolyte. The technique overcomes the necessity for long purging periods and greatly increases the time available for actual electrochemical tests. It has been used effectively for electrochemical tests on passive alloys (stainless steels, nickel base chromium containing alloys, and titanium). Based on the reaction of sodium sulfite with oxygen in water as catalyzed by cobalt ion, the resulting electrolyte solution is free of oxygen within minutes.