Analog Actuator for Multimodal Environmental Corrosion Measurements

The degradation of metallic materials due to the environment is a matter of strategic interest, because it is considered the number one enemy of the national infrastructure. For the Mexican industry is essential to know the degree of environmental corrosion in situ to take preventive action in order to extend the lifetime of the facilities, consider the type of materials used for construction, refurbish existing infrastructure and plan preventive maintenance services. To quantify the degree of atmospheric corrosion is necessary to develop a tool that allows in situ monitoring and measuring the level of corrosion using different methods for comparison. In this paper, the authors present the design and construction of an analogue circuit that can operate as a potentiostat / galvanostat and allow electrochemical noise measurements intended for a multimodal portable corrosion measurement system for remote monitoring. The actuator section was simulated and tested in the laboratory. The experimental results agree with simulations and suggest that it is possible to build a portable, multimodal equipment for in-situ monitoring of environmental corrosion levels.