A STUDY ON THE CORROSION RATE OF MOLYBDENUM AND ITS ALLOYS IN MOLTEN GLASSES

The free energy calculation of the interaction between molybdenum and theoxides in glasses has been correlated with the results obtained by immersing mol-ybdenum electrodes in molten glass bath in work's practice. The corrosion rateof molybdenum electrode as observed was directly proportional to the currentdensity and to the temperature of molten glass, the critical current density beingabout 0.4-0.7 A/cm~2. After one year's service in molten glass, the structure ofmolybdenum became very coarsely recrystallized, with an oxygen content of 0.04to 0.38 wt% (max). It would appear therefore, that molybdenum is sufficientlycorrosion-resistant to be adequately used as electrode or as structural materials inglass industry.