Non-destructive detection of corrosion applied to steel and galvanized steel coated with organic paints by the pulsed phase thermography

摘要

Organic coatings in the automobile industry have to resist corrosion and mechanical damage from stone chipping. Currently, no tool is established in industrial non-destructive applications for analyzing the damage of stoneimpacts and the following corrosion after accelerated corrosion tests. Measurement methods such as the scanning Kelvin probe can analyze the corrosion progress in a detailed manner, but with a long measurement time. The pulsed phase thermography (PPT) is a non-destructive tool to analyze inhomogeneities and defects in materials, with a huge field of applications existing. The present work shows advances in using the PPT to detect propagation of corrosion under coatings. Physical principles of the mechanism of the corrosion detection under coatings are described. Results of measurements of organic coatings on carbon steel as well as of organic coated galvanized steel show the corrosion propagation. Influencing factors to the measurement such as the thickness of the coatings are investigated, but no significant effect on the quality of the analysis was found. The corrosion progress can be monitored by the PPT fast and reliably. The achieved results correlate with the theoretical basis and the test results after surface characterization and destructive analysis of samples.