Corrosion Science 48 (2006) 2241–2257 www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci 0010-938X/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2005.08.020 Study of the corrosion behaviour of Cu–10Sn bronze in aerated Na 2 SO 4 aqueous solution Emmanuel Sidot a , Nébil Souissi b , Latifa Bousselmi c , Ezzeddine Triki b , Luc Robbiola a,¤ a Service des Microscopies Electroniques, Métallurgie Structurale, ENSCP, 11, rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France b Unité de Recherche Corrosion et Protection des Métalliques, ENIT, BP 37, Le Belvédère, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia c Laboratoire Eau and Environnement, INRST, 2055 Hammam LiV, Tunisia Received 23 May 2005; accepted 2 August 2005 Available online 19 October 2005 Abstract Investigation of the electrochemical behaviour of Cu–10Sn (wt.%) alloy has been conducted in aerated aqueous sulphate solution and compared to that of pure Cu and Sn. Eoc versus time and cathodic and anodic polarizations have been performed as a function of the initial sulphate concen- tration, the rotation speed of the electrode and the immersion time. The surface layer have been char- acterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and analyzed by energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The anodic behaviour evidences a Cu dissolution phenomenon on the corrosion layer limited by migration process rather than diVusion. The corrosion process conducts to preserve the original surface of the electrode and conducts to an internal growth at the layer/alloy interface, from the initial surface towards the unaltered substrate. The interphase behaviour is governed by the layer formed at Eoc under the experimental conditions and its evolution during the time. Hydroxyl-oxy and sulphate Cu and Sn compounds recover the sur- face and confer to the interface a blocking behaviour mainly due to the presence of the tin com- pounds in the layer. The global interphase behaviour matches the Type-I model of blocking adherent layer with decupriWcation phenomenon evidenced on archaeological bronzes.  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 1 44 276709; fax: +33 1 44 276710. E-mail address: luc-robbiola@enscp.fr (L. Robbiola).