Corrosion Science and Technology

Vision

Develop solutions to environmental material degradation in extreme conditions and enable cost effective technologies to decarbonize energy, transportation and industrial sectors. 

Mission

Lead research in materials degradation and corrosion mitigation through laboratory simulation of extreme environments, advanced characterization techniques, fundamental understanding of corrosion mechanisms, physic-based and machine learning lifetime modeling, field studies and industrial collaborations.

R&D Scope

The Corrosion Science and Technology (CST) Group is evaluating corrosion degradation in a broad range of harsh environments relevant to low-carbon energy, transportation and industrial applications. This includes high temperature and/or high-pressure steam, supercritical CO₂, hydrogen, sulfidizing and carburizing environments, liquid metals, molten salts and low-carbon biofuels. The CST group members have extensive experience with materials fabricated by conventional and advanced processes from aluminum alloys and steels to Ni-based superalloys, refractory metals, advanced ceramics and multi-material or graded structures, as well as corrosion-resistant, thermal barrier and environmental barrier coatings. Specialty areas are creating model alloys to assist in alloy design, mechanistic studies, lifetime modeling, and mechanical testing in controlled and/or corrosive environments. 

Core Competencies

• High temperature cyclic rigs operating in controlled atmosphere at temperature up to 1450°C
• High temperature high pressure (1300°C, 2MPa) systems for testing in complex harsh environments
• Infrared hydrogen furnace allowing testing up to 1500°C in high purity hydrogen with rapid heating and cooling rates
• Horizontal furnaces for exposure up to 1100°C in low PO₂ atmospheres including vacuum, Ar, He
• Tensile, creep, fatigue and burst testing in controlled environments such as steam, CO₂, hydrogen, molten salt, liquid metals
• Molten salt and liquid metal thermal convection loops 
• Aqueous/atmospheric corrosion testing by ASTM standards and AC/DC electrochemical methods for localized/uniform/galvanic corrosion investigation 
• Modeling environment-induced microstructure evolution and component lifetime prediction