Effect of Ar ion irradiation on electrochemical behaviors of zircaloy-4

In order to investigate the effect of the damage on the electrochemical behavior, zircaloy-4 specimens were irradiated by Ar ions using an accelerator at an energy of 50 keV, with doses from 3×1014 to 3×1016 ions/cm2 at liquid nitrogen temperature. Potentiodynamic polarization measurements were employed to evaluate the corrosion resistance of zircaloy-4 in a 0.5 M H2SO4 water solution at room temperature. A damage efficiency function on the passive current density of the polarization curve was defined and deduced theoretically.