THE CHALLENGE
Corrosion is the main cause of the deterioration of metallic materials, and therefore has received great attention in both academic and applied industrial settings. The cost associated with corrosion is high, particularly in the automotive, marine, and aerospace industries, necessitating a deeper understanding of the corrosion mechanism(s) and kinetics at the micro- and nanoscale in relation to their microstructure and the environment are critical to understanding the macroscopic behavior. Current methods of studying corrosion lack the combination of high sensitivity, rapid-acquisition and real-time measurements.
OUR SOLUTION
The laboratory of Marc Michel at Virginia Tech has developed a novel device which is able to explore a combination of spatial and temporal scale of in situ corrosion in real time. This monitoring is accomplished via a novel application of a quantitative phase microscopy approach, spectral modulation interferometry (SMI), to in situ corrosion studies. SMI combines spectral-domain low-coherence interferometry with a spectral modulation technique and offers speckle-free imaging and an order of magnitude better sensitivity and speed than digital holographic microscopy. The SMI provides surface topography data with sub-micron lateral resolution and subnanometer vertical precision.
Design of the flow-through electrochemical fluid cell with designed ports for the working, reference and counter electrode (WE, RE, and CE, respectively) as well as, fluid inlet and outlet, and space for the SMI objective lens.
Cross section schematic of the cell.