Corrosion tests

A corrosion test involves the performance of laboratory experiments that simulate corrosive environments in order to determine the resistance of coated metals under controlled conditions.

The behaviour against corrosion of a metal is a joint property between its own characteristics and that of the environment that surrounds it, so since there is no valid test that covers all possible variables, it is necessary to define laboratory tests with established and controlled conditions , being the results that we will obtain both qualitative and quantitative.

Corrosion is defined as the attack of a metal by reaction with the environment gradually, this phenomenon implies a cost of between 1.5-3.5% of the gross national product. All metals with the exception of some metals such as Gold or Platinum are corroded to a greater extent in contact with atmospheric agents becoming Oxides.

The purpose of the corrosion tests is to be able to evaluate the long-term performance of various metals in an accelerated manner, which allows determining the behaviour of the various metals before the environmental exposure in a reduced time, although the purposes of the corrosion tests can be diverse (compare behaviour of metals and their alloys, selection of materials according to their use, study of materials….) the most important for anticorrosive coatings is to determine the anticorrosive effectiveness of metals deposited on the metal to be protected.

The results obtained in corrosion tests on coated steel parts allow us to compare results of various coatings under controlled conditions, being able to determine which coating behaves better when faced with external agents, but it should be taken into account that a corrosion test does not simulate the actual behaviour to which the conditions of the same are not 100% extrapolated to the actual exposure conditions, but must be used as a means of control according to standards and reproducibility check of the applied coatings.