The Electrochemical Response of Steel to the Presence of Dissolved Cerium

This paper reports on a vibrating probe technique for measuring the current density distribution over a corroding steel surface has been used to investigate corrosion inhibition by cerium salts. The probe vibrations enables the current magnitude and direction in a plane perpendicular to the steel surface to be measured. Contrary to published data, it has been concluded that, at least for steels, cerium acts as an anodic inhibitor.