Project Details
Projekt
Reactive oxygen species-driven metallic corrosion in urban microenvironment: real-time monitoring and machine leaning-based predictions
Subject Area
Coating and Surface Technology
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552208929
Corrosion of metallic materials significantly threatens the lifetime, safety, and sustainability of infrastructure, and leads to heavy economic losses. Aluminium alloys (AAs) are important light alloys widely used in automobile parts, rail vehicles, and aviation materials. However, their corrosion resistance significantly varies with alloying composition and surrounding environments. Depending on the application, AA corrosion can take place under immersion or atmospheric conditions. For atmospheric corrosion, it is well established that different type of environments, for instance urban, industrial, or coastal, lead to different intensity of attack that is related to the presence of distinct aggressive species (such as, SO2, chlorides). In urban environment, air pollution – especially atmospheric particulate matter – has been found to play a remarkable role in metallic corrosion. However, the underlying chemical mechanisms remain unclear. While the composition and chemistry of atmospheric particulate matter are complex and many different components can significantly influence metallic corrosion, the present proposal is focused on the effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on the intensity and mechanisms of atmospheric corrosion of metals and alloys, especially on high-strength AAs. ROS are highly reactive chemicals that are known to enhance the oxidation potential of atmospheric pollutants, and hence effects on metal corrosion are expected. Yet, there is limited understanding on the detailed role of ROS in atmospheric corrosion, particularly as concerns the quantification of corrosion rates and identification of underlying reaction mechanisms. This project proposes to elucidate the interactions between metal/alloy surfaces and ROS-containing environment by combining online field monitoring and laboratory analysis. A novel portable online particle-bound ROS instrument will be used for ambient ROS measurement. Commercial galvanic corrosion sensors will be used for assessing the corrosivity of ambient air as well as laboratory-generated secondary organic aerosols. To unravel the particulate ROS-metal surface interaction mechanisms, laboratory work will be conducted by using corrosion sensors as well as respirometric techniques recently developed in the PI’s laboratory. Finally, artificial intelligence-based models will be employed to elucidate the relationship of particle-bound ROS with aluminium alloy corrosion and predict its corrosion rate in a longer time scale. The work is planned to be carried out in collaboration between two groups with established expertise in corrosion and ROS chemistry research. Scientific support by groups with in-depth expertise on atmospheric chemistry is provided.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
Co-Investigators
Dr. Thomas Berkemeier; Dr. Sviatlana Lamaka
