Laboratory characterization of surface passivation phenomena and surface treatment baths
Your needs : to evaluate the lifespan of your products by studying the passivation of their surfaces
Passivation describes the capacity of a metal to protect itself from corrosion with a natural or artificial outer film. For most metals (aluminum, steel, titanium…) this protective layer occurs naturally through oxidation, these materials are called “self-passivating”.
For materials that do not fall into this category, surface treatments make it possible to accelerate passivation in order to better protect said materials. These electrochemical treatments react with the surface of a material to form an oxide layer making the metal “impermeable”.
To assist companies in studying corrosive attacks on materials, support from a specialized laboratory will make it possible to better understand passivation phenomena relating to their product and to monitor the efficiency of passivation baths.
Our solution : to test your materials’ surfaces and to evaluate the efficiency of your passivation baths
Thanks to a dual expertise in chemistry and materials science, FILAB laboratory has the experience and analytical equipment needed to study passivation phenomena and to analyze associated surface treatments.
FILAB laboratory is able to provide various services relating to material passivation :
Study of passivation phenomena through surface analysis
Failure analysis (corrosion, ruptures, impurities…)
Study of surface changes over time
Salt spray testing
Surface treatment bath analysis
Validation of passivation procedures
Study of a bath’s properties over time
To achieve this, FILAB has a cutting-edge analytical fleet spread over 2100m² with various equipment such as two Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM-FEG-EDX) for studying surfaces as well as multiple ICP-AES or IC machines to analyze the chemical composition of treatment baths.
Did you know ?
A “stainless” material is actually a material that is very vulnerable to oxidation. When in contact with oxygen, an oxide layer will appear on the material’s surface. This passivating layer, if removed or damaged, can regenerate itself to continue to protect the material from corrosion, making the material “stainless”.
