Use of Standards on Electrochemical Techniques in Establishing Quality Education (QE), Quality Assurance (QA), and Quality Control (QC) Processes in Corrosion Control

Abstract

Most corrosion mechanisms are electrochemical in nature. Therefore, electrochemical techniques are widely used to investigate corrosion and to develop strategies to control it. Many electrochemical techniques are available to measure corrosion in the laboratory and to monitor corrosion in the field, including linear polarization resistance, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, electrochemical noise, multielectrode technique, scanning reference electrode technique, and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance. Several standardization organizations, including ASTM International, International Organization for Standardization, and NACE International have published standards on these techniques. For instance, ASTM International has published 19 standards on electrochemical techniques. These standards are further referenced and used in another 50 standards. These standards are valuable to educate students in academic institutions, to evaluate corrosion behavior of materials and environments to establish their quality, and to ensure that the equipment, instruments, and infrastructure are safe and reliable for continued operation. This paper discusses the advances made in recent years in using electrochemical techniques in quality education, quality assurance, and quality control and proposes additional steps that could be taken to further improve the quality education, quality assurance, and quality control processes.