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Specialized iNANO Lecture: Investigating Corrosion of Simple and Complex Metallic Materials using Macro and Micro Electrochemical Techniques

Samantha Michelle Gateman, Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Info about event

Time

Monday 9 March 2020,  at 11:00 - 12:00

Location

iNANO 1590-213, Gustav Wieds Vej 14, 8000 Aarhus C

Samantha Michelle Gateman, Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Investigating Corrosion of Simple and Complex Metallic Materials using Macro and Micro Electrochemical Techniques

Much of our fundamental understanding about corrosion assumes that chemical degradation occurs uniformly, where anodic and cathodic sites randomly fluctuate across the metal’s surface resulting in the homogeneous thinning of a metal. The rate of uniform corrosion can be predicted by several surface-averaging laboratory methods to evaluate and compare the degree of corrosion degradation and/or protection of macroscale specimens. However, many metals undergo more insidious and dangerous forms of corrosion that can appear when these sites are spatially separated at fixed locations. Localized corrosion often initiates at surface heterogeneities such as precipitates/inclusions, scratches/damage to the protective oxide (passive) film that results in exposure of active material, and differences in crystallographic grain orientation- all of which are present on the microscale. In these cases, classical surface-averaging methods cannot provide the spatial and temporal information needed to further understand and predict the highly localized nature of the processes that occur. With many new metallic materials being developed, it is crucial to gain such insight in order to prevent and avoid such detrimental degradation. Thus, scanning electrochemical probe methods are absolutely paramount in corrosion science for resolving the relationship between structure and function by correlating local electrochemistry with complementary surface information. This talk will discuss the power of combining both macro and micro electrochemical techniques to better understand the correlation between chemical composition and electrochemical reactivity to provide insight on failure mechanisms of industrially important metallic materials.

Host: Associate Professor Mingdong Dong, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, AU