Instability and bistability during the growth of a corrosion scale on metals and alloys

This paper summarizes the main results for the interpretation of the self organized corrosion scales observed in oxidation or sulfidation of some metals or alloys. It consists also of a reconsideration of the classical theoretical concepts used in Reactivity of Solids. It proposes new theoretical tools that have been fruitfully utilized in other topics : non linear and coupled processes, stability analysis and bifurcation theory. Some examples are developed, where the corrosion kinetics at high temperature are interpreted in term of chemical bistable system able to oscillate spontaneously and mechanochemical couplings are also taken into account. In according with experimental results, all …