Zinc Corrosion

Zinc based coatings are of tremendous importance for corrosion protection and are object of research since decades. Besides others, salt spray tests have been used extensively for this purpose by applied researchers, providing however only a partial picture of corrosion processes under actual environmental conditions. Therefore, the predominant knowledge about this system is only of descriptive nature and illuminates just a tiny but well defined parameter space.

The scanning flow cell enables a high-throughput screening approach that is able to deal with the issue of the complex interrelation between many parameters, for instance the variable ion composition of salts. The fully automated system provides dynamic electrolyte change even during the measurement and thereby allows a comprehensive investigation of the individual effect of different electrolyte constituents with temporally varying concentrations. Both the electrochemical behavior and the dissolution rate, measured by downstream UV-VIS detection, are recorded simultaneously to provide a comprehensive picture of the underlying processes. A high sensitivity and selectivity is achieved by using a specialized complexing agent and a custom made UV-Vis flow cell.