Investigation of Rust Formed on Steel Surfaces and Related Oxyhydroxides

In order to indentity the corrosion products formed on steel surfaces from ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, detailed Mössbauer parameters have been determined for various kinds of iron-oxyhydroxides: -FeOOH, -FeOOH, -FeOOH and -FeOOH. ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer measurements of the iron oxyhydroxides indicate the following results. Fe occupies a single site in -FeOOH, but below the Néel temperature as at e.g., 300 K the Mössbauer spectrum is always broad, showing a distribution of the strength of the magnetic exchange interactions. Its shape depends on the grain-size and synthetic methods of the specimen. Fe occupies 3 sites in -FeOOH. High-purity reagents of -FeOOH always contain small amounts of -FeOOH and their Néel temperatures depend on the synthetic methods of the specimen. Mössbauer spectroscopy of the synthetic -FeOOH shows very broad distribution of the hyperfine magnetic fields.