This research is focused on the durability of zinc coated hot-dip galvanized steel surfaces. One of the first questions is what processes are taking place during atmospheric corrosion of zinc coatings? To answer this, run-off from the coating, corroding in the salt spray chamber, are collected, and analysed.
The cleaning of metal surfaces is also an important area. We want to understand the influence of different industrial cleaning solutions on the surface chemistry. These processes are monitored by coupling a flow cell with the ICP-OES to simulate the cleaning.
Another point of interest is reliability of organic coatings. With time and under certain circumstances the toxic zinc can leak trough an organic coating into the surroundings. To study this we designed the set-up, where coatings can be exposed to artificial rain and extracted elements can be later defined.