Title: Rapid evaluation of the extent in micro-degradation of protective coatings using laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)

Authors: S.C. Fok; Avin E. Pillay; Sasi Stephen; Amr Abd-Elhameed

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ' Department of Chemistry, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ' Department of Chemistry, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ' Department of Chemistry, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: The durability of coatings used to protect base materials can be affected by environmental factors and degradation mechanisms including thermal decomposition, catalytic decomposition, bio-disintegration, chemical corrosion and mechanical scission. LA-ICP-MS is often used for the analysis of the trace elements to understand the degradation mechanism. This article extends the use of the LA-ICP-MS for the determination of the extent of coating degradation. The method is particularly useful for the rapid evaluation of conventional overlay metal-coatings at micron and sub-micron levels in applications such as pipelines commonly found in the oil and gas industry.

Keywords: laser ablation; ICP-MS; depth profiling; microdegradation; protective coatings; inductively coupled plasma; ICP mass spectrometry; coating degradation; overlay metal coatings; pipelines; oil and gas industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIT.2011.043600

International Journal of Instrumentation Technology, 2011 Vol.1 No.1, pp.34 - 43

Accepted: 26 Jul 2011
Published online: 30 Dec 2014 *

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