Reduction of undissociated water: 2 H 2 O 2e 2OH H 2 Reduction of dissolved O2: O 2 2 H 2 O 4e 4OH Formation of ferrous hydroxide: Fe 2 2OH Fe (OH ) 2 Formation of ferrous

ion of ferrous carbonate:

Fe 2 CO 32 FeCO 3

(2.9)

(2.10)

(2.11)

(2.12)

Since ferrous hydroxide (Fe(OH)2), which is one of the corrosion products, is not stable, when it is exposed to O2 and water, it is oxidized to a trivalent hydrated ferric oxide (Fe2O3nH2O) or ferric hydroxide (Fe(OH)3), which may be expressed as hydrated ferric oxide (FeOOHH2O). If exposure to oxygen is strongly limited, iron (II,III) oxide (Fe3O4) is potentially formed instead of the trivalent corrosion products (Soosaiprakasam and Veawab, 2008). The formation of an oxide layer usually acts as a protective film covering a metal surface in order to prevent it from further surface reactions is called passivation.

Formation of iron (II,III) oxide or magnetite (Fe3O4): 3Fe 4H 2O Fe3O4 4 H 2 Formation of ferric oxide or hematite (Fe2O3): 2 Fe 3O 4 H 2 O 3 Fe 2 O3 H 2 (2.14) (2.13)

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