Phase Field Modeling of Crystallographic Corrosion Pits

The modeling of corrosion to understand and predict corrosion behavior is a topical issue. Here, a 3D phase field model is developed to simulate the pit morphology, primarily focusing on crystallographic pits. A crystallographic function is employed to incorporate different corrosion rates for different crystallographic planes. The model is benchmarked and validated against an analytical solution for a simple case. 3D crystallographic pits in a single crystal are simulated and the effect of substrate orientation on the pit morphology is studied. The crystallographic pit morphology changes significantly with the substrate orientation and these morphologies have a symmetry consistent with the substrate orientation. This first 3D phase field model of crystallographic pits will help in predicting the intricate shapes of pits, thereby, pushing the frontiers of pitting corrosion modeling.

Automated summary

A 3D phase field model was developed to simulate crystallographic pits, with a focus on studying the influence of substrate orientation on pit morphology. Results showed that the morphology of crystallographic pits changes significantly with different substrate orientations and exhibits symmetry consistent with the orientation.