Determination of the corrosion-oxidation turning point at the Field’s metal/chromium interface by electrical contact resistance measurement

Abstract

Abstract The correlation of the electrical contact resistance measurement and microanalysis of the Field’s metal (FM)/Cr interface was used to determine the temperature-dependent reactions at the interface. Oxidation of Cr by oxygen contained in FM was identified through a sharp increase of the contact resistance around a certain temperature, above which the following resistance decrease was associated to a corrosion phase. The corrosion-oxidation turning point was evaluated around 390 °C. Cr saturation in FM combined with a complete consumption of the oxygen contained in the FM induced a stabilization of the interface giving a specific contact resistance of about 30 µΩ·cm2.