Corrosion

Experiment. Sudden onset of pitting corrosion observed with contrast-enhanced microscopy. (Top) Three snapshots of computer-processed optical microscopy images. Green stars show the nucleation of new pits. Red stars point out highly active pits (with halo). (Bottom) Total number of pits and total current on logarithmic scales as functions of time. The reaction occurred in 0.05 M NaCl at 22°C; the potential scanned from 693 mVNHE at 1 mV/s. watch movie

Simulation. The onset of corrosion in a stochastic model. (Top) Three snapshots showing evolution of the local .lm damage. Blue corresponds to low and orange to high .lm damage. (Bottom) Accumulated total number of pits and total current on a logarithmic scale as functions of time. Periodic boundary conditions; model parameters are given in the SOM text. watch movie

from 177. Punckt, C., M. Bölscher, H.H. Rotermund, A.S. Mikhailov, L. Organ, N. Budiansky, J. R. Scully, and J. L. Hudson, "Sudden Onset of Pitting Corrosion on Stainless Steel as a Critical Phenomenon," Science 305, 1133-1136 (2004).