On the Role of the Crystallographic Grain Characteristics in the Corrosion Behavior of Polycrystalline Copper

In order to increase the sustainability of metals, a more detailed understanding of the corrosion phenomenon is of crucial importance. In current literature, corrosion is often considered as a purely chemical interaction with nearly exclusive dependence on compositional effects, whilst ignoring the microstructural features of the metal surface. In the present work, results are presented which illustrate both the role of grain orientation and grain boundaries in the corrosion process. To evaluate the grain orientation dependent electrochemical behavior, polycrystalline Cu, was brought into contact with a corrosive electrolyte. Subsequently, the attack was evaluated by measuring the surface with both Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD). It was demonstrated that the grain orientation itself did not significantly influence the corrosion kinetics, but, alternatively, that the orientation of the neighboring grains seemed to play a decisive role in the grain dissolution rate. To increase understanding on the role of grain boundaries, a method was developed based on the electrochemical (galvanic) displacement of gold, which is deposited from an aqueous solution on a pure copper substrate. This technique demonstrated its sensitivity to the grain boundary characteristics as far less gold was deposited on special boundaries, such as coincidence site lattice boundaries, as compared to the random high angle grain boundaries.