Research Consortia
Corrosion/Coatings Research
Beginning in late 1992, an important new interdisciplinary research program evolved at North Dakota State University in the Departments of Coatings and Polymeric Materials (CPM) and Chemistry. Prof. Gordon Bierwagen of CPM and Prof. Dennis Tallman of Chemistry are directing this unique research program, which involves the application of modern electrochemical techniques to the characterization of corrosion in organic coatings/metal systems. It is the only university research program which focuses on the issues of corrosion control by organic coatings both from applied and theoretical aspects. Its main thrusts are the understanding of how real organic coatings systems provide corrosion protection in hostile environments, the development of new characterization methods appropriate to coating/metal systems, the development of sensors for possible in situ studies, development of test protocols that will enable coatings designers to rapidly screen candidate coatings systems for corrosion protective properties, and the development of improved models for corrosion control by coatings. This program is a unique interaction between applied and theoretical research on coatings and fundamental electrochemical measurements and their interpretation. This program approaches research on corrosion/coatings from the point of view of the coatings engineer who must develop and test corrosion control coatings and wishes to do it in a rapid, but scientifically accurate manner. A long term goal will be to develop corrosion control coating formulation guidelines based on our models and characterization data. The problem of replacing chromate based pigments in corrosion control primers will also be addressed. Reproducibility of test data on coated metal systems is also of specific concern, and models to account for the large scatter often seen in test results are being developed. The set of corrosion testing and research equipment acquired with this program, ranging from a Salt Fog Cabinet to Electrochemical Noise Measurement equipment to a Scanning Probe Microscope for electrochemical environments, paired with the extensive coatings test and application equipment in place at NDSU gives this program, for those interested in coatings, a distinct advantage over programs which either deal only with metals or polymers.
Last Updated: Friday, January 31 2003 07:00 PM