Characterizing Corrosion Inhibition Performance of Advanced Coating Technologies using Micro Electrochemical Methods

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Coatings are an integral part of our everyday life, yet their average service lifetime does not exceed one year. In the cases of metallic coatings and coated metals, corrosion is inevitable. The cost and safety concerns associated with such chemical degradation can be drastically reduced through corrosion control strategies that are designed by understanding corrosion mechanisms and behaviour. Corrosion of coatings often initiates at localized regions due to defects formed during fabrication and repetitive use, or due to the material's inherent microstructure. Although macroscale methods provide important information about the surface-averaged properties of the metal/coating interface, they cannot provide the spatial information needed to monitor corrosion initiation at the nano- and microscale. Such information is necessary to understand how defects impact corrosion mechanisms and how to minimize localized attack to improve coating technologies for longer lasting protection and safety. The long-term goals of my research program are to refine, implement, and standardize scanning electrochemical probe methods (SEPM) for micro corrosion analysis and to use these tools to design, characterize, and optimize corrosion-inhibition strategies. By utilizing SEPM, this research program will provide new information about how coating fabrication parameters and choices affect corrosion behaviours of metallic coatings and polymer-coated metals, which will be used to improve and modify coating fabrication procedures to decrease chemical degradation. I will explore how to improve SEPM for microscale corrosion measurements, including more accurate extraction of corrosion parameters and better spatial resolution capabilities. Complementary surface characterization methods will be used to relate the chemical composition of microstructural features to their electrochemical reactivity. Over the next five years, I will focus on characterizing the corrosion mechanisms and behaviours of two advanced coating systems produced using industrially prominent and emerging technologies: thermal spraying and polymer brushes. Both coating systems have tremendous potential as industrial corrosion protection strategies, and can be coupled together to solve the current issue of sustainable adhesion of polymers to thermal spray coatings. The tailorability of the two coating technologies and the wide range of coating materials facilitate the fabrication of virtually any suitable coating material for any specific application. Localized corrosion of coated surfaces is dangerous because it is difficult to detect before coating perforation occurs, but results in severe degradation of the material's mechanical integrity. This program will ensure the safety of Canadians using coated metallic infrastructure, aid in the protection of the environment from metal contamination, and work towards building the next generation of longer-lasting corrosion resistant coatings on Canadian soil.