Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

<p style=""margin: 0in 0in 0pt;""><span lang=""EN-US"" style=""font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;""><span style=""font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"">Our</span> laboratory requires a high capacity corrosion measurement system to meet the demands of numerous corrosion studies (15 projects, including NSERC IRC and DG, 4 NSERC CRDs (together totaling $955,000/year), and 5 commercial research contracts (totaling $250,000/year) and contributing to the training of 12GS and 2 PDFs).&nbsp; The proposed system comprises a modular multistat with two resistance probes and a multi-electrode array to upgrade and improve the reliability of our apparatus, allow us to increase our research capacity and throughput of measurements, and perform experiments which we must currently conduct at distant laboratory facilities.&nbsp; Currently, we possess a Solartron Modulab chassis with one potentiostat module (of an available 8) and one frequency response analyzer (FRA) module.&nbsp; We propose to upgrade this system by adding three more potentiostat modules (the basic workhorse for electrochemical corrosion measurements) and an FRA module. &nbsp;This will quadruple our ability to perform parallel electrochemical experiments, and enhance our ability to perform impedance measurements (which employ the FRA modules).&nbsp; The resistance probes will extend our capabilities to the measurement of very sensitive (nm/y) corrosion rates, in situ and non-destructively, in a very wide range of environments, including many inaccessible to standard electrochemical measurements, such as gas-phase or supercritical fluids or even at internal solid-solid interfaces.&nbsp; They measure the electrical resistance of a specimen, which is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area. Increases in resistance over time can be used to quantify decreases in the sample cross-section allowing precise rate determinations. Currently these probes are available to us through Canadian Nuclear Laboratories in Chalk River, ON (i.e., requiring long-distance travel and highly restricted student access). &nbsp;If available at UWO, student researchers will have ready access and be able to apply them directly to the work scope defined in a currently funded CRD project.&nbsp; Finally, the multi-electrode array component of the system will allow real-time, in situ observation and quantification of the spatial non-homogeneity of corrosion reactions by coupling many small surface area electrodes to simulate an extended surface. &nbsp;This will allow us to accurately couple corrosion rate measurements with location, and allow us to obtain essential information about localized corrosion damage and its mechanistic origins that is not accessible by other methods, especially in high temperature or pressure environments or on surfaces occluded by corrosion product deposits, industrial coatings (e.g., paint or clay).&nbsp; This multi-electrode array system will be a valuable tool for the work scope specified in another current CRD<span style=""font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;"">.</span></span></p>