Thin oxide films which inhibit corrosion of metals

What is it about?

The thin surface oxide films induce the passive state of metals. Under the passive state, corrosion of the metals is much inhibited. The oxide film was measured by an optical reflection method by using polarized light and the growth mechanism was discussed from the accurate measurement of the thickness.

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Why is it important?

Usual metals are used under the passive state in which the metals are covered by the thin oxide film. The passive state was stably controlled by electrochemistry in aqueous electrolyte solution. We applied ellipsometry to the measurement of the oxide films. Our ellipsometer has been improved to quantitatively measure the thickness in nm level under in situ condition in the solution. We found the growth mechanism fro the precise measurement of transient change in thickness of the oxide films in iron and titanium.

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