The hub of a new knowledge centre for corrosion

13 December, 2021

More knowledge concerning metallic corrosion, now and in the future, is needed in industry. Over a period of at least three years, such knowledge will be built up within the framework for Corrosion Forum, a joint long-term initiative from industry and metals research institute Swerim.

Future steelmaking will require suitable facilities for storing hydrogen. Here, it will be necessary to prevent hydrogen embrittlement, i.e., degradation of the material for the tanks in which the gas will be stored. One of the research areas to be addressed by the Corrosion Forum project has to do with prediction of the impact of hydrogen on metallic materials.

Corrosion Forum was started after discussions with Swerim's owner companies. It became evident that there is a need for more research on how metals will react in present-day and future industrial environments. New testing methods, such as synchrotron/neutron techniques or local electrochemical measurements, will be applied. Nuria Fuertes, Swerim's manager for the research group for metallic materials in aggressive environments, is leading the three-year project, which is a joint initiative between industry and Swerim.

'This is incredibly exciting. This is a challenging project in which complexed techniques will be used to study how metals perform in different environments and how this is linked to microstructure, for example, in fluids, gases or in high-temperature environments. Of course, it is very encouraging that there is such a demand for this knowledge in industry".

Nuria Fuertes has overall project responsibility, but has colleagues who will be in charge of the specific research projects that will be run within the framework of Corrosion Forum.

"We have divided the work into four so-called Work Packages. At the core, we will build up a network for knowledge about corrosion, whereby we will disseminate our own research results and monitor developments within the field. The other three packages concern specific research centring on different areas where, among other things, hydrogen, corrosion processes in wet environments and high-temperature oxidation are in focus.

Ovako Group, Outokumpu, Sandvik and SSAB already belong to Corrosion Forum, but project manager Nuria Fuertes is quick to note that there is room for more members.

"The aim is to always work towards finding constructive solutions to corrosion problems that are now arising, and will arise, in industry."

Contacts

Nuria Fuertes is the head of the Corrosion Forum.
Maria Paschalidou is responsible for WP2, Wet corrosion processes
Andrea Olivas is responsible for WP3, High temperature oxidation
Birhan Sefer is responsible for WP4, Metals in contact with hydrogen
Konstantin Simonov is responsible for LSI.