Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method for predicting corrosion rates of a material under a plurality of service conditions, the method comprising:a) determining a first phase composition of the material prior to corrosion;b) exposing the material to a chemical environment representing a first service condition, wherein the environment defines a redox value;c) applying a series of fixed electrical potentials to the exposed material to represent the redox value;d) identifying ranges of the applied potential that correspond to different corrosion behaviors of the material;e) quantifying current and surface electrical properties during corrosion; andf) determining a second phase composition of the material after corrosion in a second service condition. 2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the steps of determining the initial phase composition and the second phase composition of the material comprises examining the material with scanning electron microscopy and associated energy-dispersive X-ray emission spectroscopy. 3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of identifying ranges of the applied potential comprises examining the corroded material with scanning electron microscopy. 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the service conditions are chemical parameters selected from the group consisting of pH, solution concentrations of predetermined moieties, radiolytic products, temperature, and combinations thereof. 5. The method as recited in claim 1 the step of selecting electrical potentials comprises conducting an initial potentiodynamic scan of the material in the chemical environment. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the applied potential is selected to characterize a material corrosion behavior selected from the group consisting of cathodic corrosion, active corrosion, passive corrosion, or transpassive corrosion. 7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of quantifying the corrosion comprises applying potentiostatic tests to the material at a plurality of applied potentials. 8. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein electrical impedance spectroscopy is performed during and after the potentiostatic tests to measure the material's electrical properties selected from the group consisting of current, impedance, passivation, and combinations thereof. 9. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein the potentiostatic tests are conducted at several fixed voltages to measure evolution of corrosion current as the material corrodes or stabilizes over time under fixed chemical conditions.