Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

It is quite common for high performance structural components and industrial equipment to experience some form of corrosion irrespective of what type of material is used. Accordingly, corrosion resistance is a critical property requirement for materials used in many sectors of the economy including:petrochemical, automotive, clean energy, oil and gas, medicine (e.g., biomedical implants). Due to the exponential use of metals in may applications and environments, a wide range of corrosion resistant coatings have been developed and marketed to match the performance requirements of specific applications. Such coatings when scientifically selected and properly applied, protect the metal and enhance the performance against degradation due to: oxidation, salt spray, exposure to an aggressive environment, industrial chemicalA corrosion test is often performed to determine the optimal corrosion resistant coatings in terms of type and applied thickness for a particular application. However, the majority of the current state-of-the-art corrosion test methods are labourintensive, time consuming and expensive. The need for reliable, cost-effective, quantitative accelerated test techniques for the purpose of product selection and quantification is apparent.Toolrite Engineering, a Sarnia-based company, has been providing enhanced protective coating services to local, regional and international companies, including those in the petrochemical industry, for several decades. They are currently using a number of different corrosion-resistant coatings to protect a large number of industrial equipment exposed to different aggressive chemicals and environments. These equipment include: pumps, valves, pipes, heat exchangers, turbines and gas compressors,Toolrite Engineering is not performing any corrosion test on their protective coating materials; data supplied by the coating manufacturers are instead used as a guide. However, such data are generally generic in nature and do nor represent the true behaviour of such coatings in real environments, where they will be installed and operated. As a result, the lack of a simple, fast, reliable, and economical corrosion test to routinely and effectively evaluate the suitability of such protective coatings for specific components and environments has led to application of these coatings with little consideration being given to their type, amount and thickness. In many cases, this has led either to premature failure of the component due to lack of adequate protective coating or to application of a more expensive coating material (or a thicker protective barrier), resulting in higher material and operating costs.Lambton College research team in close partnership with Toolrite Engineering are planning to develop an innovative, costeffective, reliable, accelerated test method for selection and quantification of a large number of industrial protective coatings currently used by the company. The ability to test, rank and quantify such protective coatings in a timely manner and with high certainty will help Toolrite Engineering to be more responsive to the needs of their existing customers and attract new clients. Whereas conventional corrosion test strategies would take months or even years to complete, the proposed technique would only require a fraction of the time required by existing, common techniquesusually 5%-10% of the total time required by conventional techniquesand at a fraction of the cost. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) will be employed to examine and rank the protective ability of all suitable coating materials. In addition, the accelerated test method will also be used to screen and test newly developed protective coatings.The primary challenge is the design, fabrication and operation of a universal test station and protocol that can be used to perform accelerated corrosion tests on a wide array of materials; i.e., metals and alloys, an their protective coatings.Toolrite Engineering i