A new acceleration factor for the testing of corrosion protective coatings: flow-induced coating degradation

For corrosion protective coatings that are designed to give lifetimes of protection that may extend to 50 years, valid accelerated test methods are necessary to develop improved systems and validate performance. Fluid flow over metals has long been believed to influence the corrosion process. Studies have been focused on the effects of flow rate on the corrosion of bare metals. The influence of fluid flow on the degradation of metal-protective coatings has received less attention. This paper describes a preliminary study on the influence of laminar flow on organic coatings. A Hele-Shaw cell and its associated fluid control apparatuses are incorporated into the electrochemical cell setup. The barrier properties of the coating as a function of immersion time and flow rate have been monitored by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. We observe that the barrier properties of the coating measured electrochemically decrease exponentially with the increasing flow rate. We propose that the flowing electrolyte solution could be used in acceleration tests for the lifetime prediction of organic coatings as the acceleration of failure we have observed does not appear to change the mechanism of failure. Further analysis is proposed to validate immersion flow rate as a universal accelerating parameter for coating failure.