A review of electrochemical techniques applied to microbiologically influenced corrosion in recent studies

Abstract

Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) has been receiving attention from different areas in the last years, as an answer to the demand of various industries. Remedy for most of the MIC problems can be achieved by establishing a close link between microbiology, electrochemistry, medical science and metallurgy. The present paper critically reviews the electrochemical techniques employed in several recent publications on the subject, with the aim of clarifying basic and applied aspects of microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) and biofouling. During MIC, corrosion products migrate from the metal to the solution followed by the settelment of biofilm from the bulk solution to the mètal surface. These processes can be studied by electrochemical techniques, such as the measurement of open circuit potential, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance techniques, polarization resistance measurements, electrochemical sensors, and electrochemical noise analysis.