We are a national competence center for the investigation of corrosion failure cases, particularly, for the research and development of corrosion prevention strategies. Our research group combines years of practical experience in the domains of environmental corrosion, microanalysis and corrosion protection. These experiences represent the base for our collaborations with industrial partners and federal offices in the fields of corrosion prevention and protection.

As a matter of course, we offer day-to-day high-end services and failure analysis to exigent industrial needs in the field of environmental corrosion, including:

• Determinations of corrosion mechanisms and corrosive media by detailed characterizations of the materials' microstructure and the corrosion products. Such failure analysis is a prerequisite to understand the corrosion system.

• The development of new guidelines and recommendations for the prevention of recurrent corrosion fatalities.

• Investigations of the corrosion-resistance of novel metallic materials and functional coatings under environmental or extreme (i.e. aggressive) conditions by the design and application of certified corrosion tests.

• Field-investigations and chemical analysis of damages of metallic materials and components after impact of fire and chemical accidents.

Your contacts: Markus Faller, Martin Tuchschmid

The investigation and formulation of the surface reactivity and corrosion mechanisms on modern metallic materials and their functional surfaces requires localized monitoring of electrochemical reactions at solid-liquid interfaces by state-of-the-art surface-analytical techniques (e.g. capillary methods, environmental AFM, photoelectrochemistry, impedance spectroscopy and Kelvin probe microscopy). Hence the in-house development of advanced local electrochemical analysis techniques is a key activity in our lab.

We are particularly devoted to the development of user-friendly micro- and nano-capillary scanning techniques, which can be operated in aqueous (electrolytic) environments on a local scale (from the micrometre down to the nanometre range). Such advanced methods can, for example, reveal the local reactivity and biocompatibility of metallic particles, metal implants and joined components in electrolytic environments.

Your contact: Thomas Suter