Publications

Report on accelerated corrosion studies

Glass, Sarah J.; Mowry, Curtis D.

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) conducted accelerated atmospheric corrosion testing for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to help further the understanding of the development of corrosion products on conductor materials in household electrical components exposed to environmental conditions representative of homes constructed with problem drywall. The conditions of the accelerated testing were chosen to produce corrosion product growth that would be consistent with long-term exposure to environments containing humidity and parts per billion (ppb) levels of hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S) that are thought to have been the source of corrosion in electrical components from affected homes. This report documents the test set-up, monitoring of electrical performance of powered electrical components during the exposure, and the materials characterization conducted on wires, screws, and contact plates from selected electrical components. No degradation in electrical performance (measured via voltage drop) was measured during the course of the 8-week exposure, which was approximately equivalent to 40 years of exposure in a light industrial environment. Analyses show that corrosion products consisting of various phases of copper sulfide, copper sulfate, and copper oxide are found on exposed surfaces of the conductor materials including wires, screws, and contact plates. The morphology and the thickness of the corrosion products showed a range of character. In some of the copper wires that were observed, corrosion product had flaked or spalled off the surface, exposing fresh metal to the reaction with the contaminant gasses; however, there was no significant change in the wire cross-sectional area.