OT-LUNA Blog-US Air Force and Luna Team Up on Next-Gen Coatings Testing

http://lunainc.com/air-force-luna-team-next-gen-coatings-testing/

In a recently published AFRL article titled “New Corrosion Evaluation System Makes Sense for Air Force”, Dr. Chad Hunter of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) discusses how CorRES^TM from Luna Innovations enables the Air Force to rapidly introduce new corrosion protection and control technologies with minimal risk. According to Dr. Hunter, “There’s a lot of variability in corrosion tests, and CorRES allows us to monitor this variability and provides quantitative data that helps us better understand a coating’s performance in the lab so we can project how it will perform in the operational environment.”

CorRES is an evaluation system providing continuous measurement of coatings performance and test environment over time. Quantitative, time dependent measurements allow for more accurate and thorough determination of coating performance.  CorRES measurements offer a significant advantage to those who are either interested in shortening new coatings/raw materials development time, or are responsible for coating qualification and want to reduce performance risk associated with new coating introductions.  

The technology was developed in partnership between Luna, AFRL, and the Air Force Corrosion Prevention and Control Office. Dr. Hunter and his team have been instrumental in supporting Luna’s development of a test system which meets operational and durability requirements for use in accelerated test chamber and outdoor test environments. CorRES is now available for purchase and is used by government and industry customers across the world. Contact sensinst@lunainc.com for more information.
                                                         

Quantified, Real-Time Coatings Performance

CorRES multi-sensor panels (MSP) with interdigitated electrode (IDE) sensors are used to quantify coating performance continuously throughout a test.  The MSP are designed to be coated and scribed using conventional panel preparation techniques. Measurements are made per ANSI/NACE Standard TM0416-2016 “Test Method for Monitoring Atmospheric Corrosion Rate by Electrochemical Measurements”.

Versatile

CorRES test systems are designed to withstand the harshest conditions to allow for long term use in corrosion test chambers and outdoor environments.  When used in laboratory test chambers the CorRES operates off of line power, and for prolonged unattended outdoor tests, the system can be supplied with battery pack.  This low-power device can collect coating performance data for extended periods of time (> 1year) without a battery replacement.

Data can be downloaded from the Docking Platform by user command. Luna’s intuitive graphical user interface provides data visualization and automated data processing.  The data is retrieved in common file format for easy exporting to analysis and processing software.

Expand Your Understanding

• High throughput measurement for performance testing and coating formulation development
• Continuous quantitative measures of corrosion rate and cumulative degradation for protective coating and inhibitor selection and coating qualification
• Measurements of coating performance and alloy corrosion for specific atmospheric exposures or service environments
• Automated environmental data collection and record keeping for comparing conditions and results among test chambers, between labs, and relative to previous tests
• Correlate laboratory testing, outdoor exposures, and service environment evaluations for specific applications
• Accelerated coatings development through continuous performance monitoring, no need to remove panels from the chamber
• Mechanistic studies of degradation using multimodal measurements of barrier properties, free corrosion, and galvanic corrosion combined with environmental conditions