Fundamental studies of passivity and passivity breakdown. Final report

This report summarizes the findings of our fundamental research program on passivity and passivity breakdown. During the past three and one half years in this program (including the three year incrementally-funded grant prior to the present grant), we developed and experimentally tested various physical models for the growth and breakdown of passive films on metal surfaces. These models belong to a general class termed ``point defects models`` (PDMs), in which the growth and breakdown of passive films are described in terms of the movement of anion and cation vacancies.