Intermittent turbulence and period doubling at the corrosion-passivity transition in iron

It is shown that the transition from corrosion to passivity in iron is characterized by chaotic behavior. Intermittent "turbulence" period doubling and other periodic and aperiodic oscillations are observed. It is also shown that the observed sequences of oscillations can be explained in terms of a model describing the gradual transformation of an anodic film. Although the model is too simplistic to explain the complexities of passivation, it is nevertheless the first model of electrochemical oscillations which explains both their occurrence and their decay-growth patterns.