On the Use of Voltammetry to Estimate the Effectiveness of Cathodic Protection of Buried Steel Structures

Buried steel structures, e.g., oil and gas pipelines, are often protected against corrosion by the combination of organic coating and cathodic protection. The effectiveness of cathodic protection can be monitored over time using voltammetry via a computer fitting of the polarization curves with theoretical electrochemical kinetic laws. In this study, the influence of the scan rate and the procedure used for the acquisition of the polarization curve was investigated. Reliable, though slightly overestimated, residual corrosion rates were obtained using a specific procedure and a low potential scan rate. However, the residual corrosion rate has a meaning only if the wet area of the electrode is known, which can be achieved by measuring another parameter linked to the wet area, e.g., the electrolyte resistance R-s. In a soil at 25% saturation, the wet area, which is the surface of the metal in contact with the soil electrolyte, may be actually significantly different from the whole surface of the electrode.