Visualisation of the local electrochemical activity of thermal sprayed anti-corrosion coatings using scanning electrochemical microscopy

Scanning electrochemical microscopy was used to study the electrochemical activity of anti-corrosion coatings formed from Inconel 625, a Ni–Cr–Mo alloy commonly used in engineering applications. The coatings were formed using a high velocity oxygen fuel thermal spraying technique. Upon spraying the alloy onto mild steel substrates, clear splat boundaries were formed at the interface between adjacent droplets as they cooled on the substrate surface. Scanning electrochemical microscopy in the feedback mode, employing ferrocenemethanol as redox mediator, was used to study the local electrochemical activity of samples of the wrought alloy, the sintered alloy and the thermal sprayed coating. The wrought and sintered materials showed responses typical of that expected for a purely insulating material. However, SECM approach curve data showed that the electrochemical activity of the thermal sprayed material was higher than that of the bulk alloy. Local variations in the coating's electrochemical activity were then visualised using SECM imaging, which appear to be related to the splat boundaries formed during the thermal spray process.