J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2022, Vol. 112: 151-183.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2021.11.004

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Electrochemical measurements used for assessment of corrosion and protection of metallic materials in the field: A critical review

Da-Hai Xiaa,b,*(), Cheng-Man Denga,b(), Digby Macdonaldc(), Sina Jamalid(), Douglas Millse(), Jing-Li Luof(), Michael G. Streblg(), Mehdi Amirih(), Weixian Jini, Shizhe Songa,b, Wenbin Hua,b,*()   

  1. aTianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300350, China
    bSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
    cDepartment of Nuclear Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    dSchool of Chemistry, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
    eSchool of Science and Technology, University of Northampton, St. George’s Avenue, Northampton, NN2 6JD, UK
    fDepartment of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1H9, Canada
    gDepartment of Materials Science (LKO, WW-4), University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
    hDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, USA
    iZhoushan Marine Corrosion Institute of Central Research Institute of Iron and Steel, Zhoushan, 316003, China
  • Received:2021-09-20 Revised:2021-11-06 Accepted:2021-11-14 Published:2021-12-16 Online:2021-12-16
  • Contact: Da-Hai Xia,Cheng-Man Deng,Digby Macdonald,Sina Jamali,Douglas Mills,Jing-Li Luo,Michael G. Strebl,Mehdi Amiri,Wenbin Hu
  • About author:wbhu@tju.edu.cn (W.Hu).
    mamirida@gmu.edu (M. Amiri),
    michael.strebl@fau.de (M.G. Strebl),
    jingli.luo@ualberta.ca (J.-L. Luo),
    douglas.mills@northampton.ac.uk (D. Mills),
    sina_jamali@uow.edu.au (S. Jamali),
    macdonald@berkeley.edu (D. Macdonald),
    chengmandeng@tju.edu.cn (C.-M. Deng),
    * E-mail addresses: dahaixia@tju.edu.cn (D.-H. Xia),
    Dr. Da-Hai Xia is an Associate Professor at the school of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University. He received his PhD degree from Tianjin University (China) in 2012. He then joined the University of Alberta (Canada) as a Post-doctoral fellow (2013 ∼2014) under the guidance of Prof. Jing-Li Luo. His-research interests are interdisci- plinary studies of corrosion, electrochemistry and surface science. He is selected as the Youth Editorial Commit- tee Member of Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China and Equipment Environmental Engineering.
    Cheng-Man Deng is a master student under the guidance of Dr. Da-Hai Xia at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University. His research subject is localized corrosion of aluminum alloy exposed at the seawater/air interface, with an emphasis on corrosion mechanism and simulation.
    Digby D. Macdonald is the current Professor in Residence at the University of California, Berkeley’s Departments of Nuclear Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. After growing up and obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in New Zealand, Macdonald moved to Canada to receive his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Calgary. Throughout his career, his has held numerous po- sitions at Ohio State University and Pennsylvania State University. He has received many awards for his scien- tific work, including the 2014 Frumkin Memorial Medal from the International Society of Electrochemistry for his work on passivity and passivity breakdown. His-work on the properties of aqueous solutions at high temperatures and pressures also earned him the 2013 Gibbs Award.
    Dr. Sina Jamali is an Australian Research council DECRA Fellow at School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia. He received his PhD from Intelligent Polymer Research Institute within the ARC centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science at the University of Wollongong in 2016. He was a member and project leader at the ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Innovation (Steel Research Hub) since 2015. His-publications and research strengths are around polymer coatings, biomaterials, electrochemistry, and corrosion.
    Douglas Mills obtained a BA Honours degree in Natu- ral Sciences and then went on to get a PhD in the field of Corrosion Prevention by Coatings; both degrees being from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering at the University of Northampton, UK where he teaches Mate- rials Engineering and conducts and supervises research in corrosion and protection with a major interest in the mechanism of prevention of corrosion by organic coat- ings and development of electrochemical techniques for assessing the corrosion prevention ability of coatings on metal substrates, of inhibitors and corrosion of reinforcing bar in Concrete. He is involved with standards work: ISO committee TC35 SC9 WG9; Electrochemical methods for testing of paint coatings and ISO TC 156 WG 11; Electrochemical test methods. He has over 100 publications in the field of corrosion and protection; 70 in journals and at least 30 others in conference proceedings.
    Dr. Jing-Li Luo is a professor Emeritus at Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from McMaster University, Canada in 1992. She served as Canadian Research Chair in Alternative Fuel Cells from 2004 to 2015, and received a number of awards including Morris Cohen Award in 2002, Mc-Calla Professorship of University of Alberta in 2003 and Metal Chemistry Award in 2014. Dr. Luo was elected to be Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2016. Her research has been focused on fuel cells, energy storage research, clean energy technology and corrosion control.
    Michael Strebl is a researcher working in the group of Prof. Sannakaisa Virtanen at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. He works in the field of corrosion science, and he focuses on the development of novel in situ methods to monitor corrosion rates. Besides, he is experienced with corrosion protective surface pretreatments of Mg and Al light alloys.
    Dr. Wenbin Hu is a Professor and Dean of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Tianjin University. Prior to joining the faculty at Tianjin University, he worked as a Professor in Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He graduated from Central-South University with a BSc in 1988, and received MSc from Tianjin University in 1991. He received PhD from Central-South University in 1994. Dr Hu’s research interests focus on design, synthesis and characterization of advanced micro/nanomaterials for en- ergy storage and conversion applications.

Abstract:

Corrosion degradation is detrimental to metal structures as it shortens their lifetime and leads to huge economic losses and unexpected disasters. Therefore, the detection and monitoring of corrosion degradation is of great importance. Herein, we briefly review the state-of-the-art electrochemical methods, instrumentation (based on virtual instrumentation), and advanced sensor/probes that are used in the field for the assessment of corrosion damage. Typical corrosion monitoring results, some of which have been obtained at Tianjin University in the past 30 years, for metallic materials and organic coating/metal systems in atmospheric, marine, and soil conditions in the field are presented. Detection methods, data analysis, and theoretical and mathematical models regarding each corrosion system are discussed, and the challenges, problems and possible solutions for each case are suggested. Lastly, future developments, such as wireless, intelligent, and automatic electrochemical measurement, that will augment the present electrochemical methods of evaluating corrosion degradation are summarized.

Key words: Corrosion monitoring, Electrochemical method, Virtual instrumentation, Sensor, Data analysis, iIn-situ measurement, Probe