Emerging surface characterization techniques for carbon steel corrosion: a critical brief review

Abstract

Carbon steel is a preferred construction material in many industrial and domestic applications, including oil and gas pipelines, where corrosion mitigation using film-forming corrosion inhibitor formulations is a widely accepted method. This review identifies surface analytical techniques that are considered suitable for analysis of thin films at metallic substrates, but are yet to be applied to analysis of carbon steel surfaces in corrosive media or treated with corrosion inhibitors. The reviewed methods include time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry, X-ray absorption spectroscopy methods, particle-induced X-ray emission, Rutherford backscatter spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, electron probe microanalysis, near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission electron microscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, small-angle neutron scattering and neutron reflectometry, and conversion electron Moessbauer spectrometry. Advantages and limitations of the analytical methods in thin-film surface investigations are discussed. Technical parameters of nominated analytical methods are provided to assist in the selection of suitable methods for analysis of metallic substrates deposited with surface films. The challenges associated with the applications of the emerging analytical methods in corrosion science are also addressed.

X‐ray micro‐computed tomography analysis of accumulated corrosion products in deep‐water shipwrecks

“…XRD only gives information about crystalline phase whereas Raman and X‐ray µCT are capable to provide useful information about crystalline and amorphous phases but localized heating due to the laser used in Raman spectroscopy may cause sample damage for long‐term exposure. Therefore, to minimize the error in phase fraction measurement and phase characterization, we have applied range of techniques which operates at different length scales with distinct characteristics with each other . For example, phase fraction measurement using X‐ray µCT has taken crystalline, amorphous and voids phases into account whereas phase fraction obtained by XRD pattern's Rietveld analysis has only considered crystalline phases present in the sample.…”

“…Therefore, to minimize the error in phase fraction measurement and phase characterization, we have applied range of techniques which operates at different length scales with distinct characteristics with each other. [43] For example, phase fraction measurement using X-ray µCT has taken crystalline, amorphous and voids phases into account whereas phase fraction obtained by XRD pattern's Rietveld analysis has only considered crystalline phases present in the sample.…”

Archaeometallurgical investigation of ancient artefacts’ degradation phenomenon

“…14 . Copyright 2000, Elsevier B. V. (2). a Decorative bell capital from where rust samples were collected (b) after 1 year exhibited self-healing.…”

“…51 Reprinted with permission from ref. 51 Copyright 2005, Elsevier B. V. (2). DPL characterization of a Montreuil en Caux, b Cabaret and Montbaron, c Avrilly and d Glinet with the help of EDS/EPMA*, micro-XRD/micro-Raman**, micro-XANES***.…”

“…Ancient artefacts are known to be significant evidences of regional technological advancement that occurred in that region and are therefore expected to be persevered from corrosion; hence, understanding the corrosion mechanism of ancient artefacts is become an important field of research for metallurgists, material scientists, archaeologists and corrosion scientists. Our recent review articles describe emerging characterization techniques that are being used for corrosion mechanism investigation of metallic materials; 1,2 however, in this review, our aim is to delineate the application of potential characterization techniques 3 (destructive and non-destructive (in case one is allowed to destroy the samples depending on their requirement)) in order to find out the mechanism of various types of corrosion such as atmospheric corrosion, underwater corrosion, under-deposit corrosion etc. Apart from destructive techniques, certain non-destructive techniques are also available for structural and precipitates' morphological examination such as synchrotron X-ray diffraction and tomography, neutron diffraction and neutron radiography imaging and their application in artefact degradation mechanism investigations are suggested in this article later ( Fig.…”