Investigation into corrosion protection by coatings using the electrochemical noise method

The Electrochemical Noise Method (ENM) monitors the small potential and current fluctuations that occur naturally in electrochemical cells. It is the least intrusive of all electrochemical techniques in common use. This work uses the Electrochemical Noise Method to investigate the corrosion protection afforded by organic coatings. A parameter called Noise Resistance (Rn) is derived from an Ohm law relationship using the potential noise (Vn) and current noise (In) values. The noise on the current and potential data sets is calculated as the standard deviation value. The work is divided into three areas. The first looked at coating systems in the intact state on the substrate. In general this part of the work has corroborated previous work where Rn values of >1 x 107 ohns-cm2 indicated protection of the substrate, correlating with DC resistance values of the coating. The second area of work investigated scribed coatings on the substrate. An important property of organic anti-corrosive coatings is the ability to protect the substrate at a break in the coating. In the scribed work the level of protection afforded at exposed metal by the coating was related to the Noise Resistance value. The third area of this investigation looked at novel ENM techniques to investigate organic coatings. Detached intact coatings were examined in a "U" tube test cell that can be used to simulate different conditions that may be encountered in service. Also a new technique was devised for obtaining ENM data from corrosion cells, this does not require the two separate substrate elements necessary for the more established methodology. The new technique has been called the Single Substrate (SS) technique to reflect this useful property. The technique could be used for in-situ monitoring of structures and it could be adapted for investigation of other situations such as reinforcement bars in concrete.