Why do Corrosion Testing?
The estimated direct cost of corrosion effects in the United States alone is estimated at almost $300 billion annually – for this reason, it is critical for manufacturers to understand their products’ resistance to corrosive environments. Corrosion test standards are used widely to address this issue, but for this corrosion testing to be of value, laboratories need to verify their testing is reliable and reproducible.
What are Corrosion Coupons?
Corrosion coupons (also known as mass-loss coupons) are standardized thin steel panels that serve as reference specimens in corrosion testing. They help a user verify the rate of corrosion in corrosion chambers and serve as independent test monitoring devices. Q-Lab’s CX-series of standard corrosion test coupons are ideally suited for this application – they are consistent, clean, convenient, and cost-effective.
Consistent
Surface inconsistencies, such as variations in steel roller condition, carbon dust impurity, rust caused by handling errors, and long storage times can affect the consistency of corrosion mass-loss. As a result, ordinary steel is unsuitable for many corrosion tests. Q-Lab’s CX-series steel corrosion coupons minimize metal variability as a source of bias in critical corrosion tests, due to three key factors:
- volume metal purchasing from select mills
- automated production on a high-speed line
- rigorous inspection at several processing stages
Clean
The Q-Lab CX corrosion coupon production process thoroughly cleans panels and removes any oil from the surface. Special handling assures all panels are completely clean when packaged. Corrosion coupons are packed in plastic bags with vapor phase rust inhibitor, preserving the high degree of surface quality for a long shelf life.
Convenient
For your safety and ease of handling, all Q-PANEL corrosion coupons have deburred edges, and some versions have rounded edges (depending on the requirements of the appropriate standard). Corrosion coupons are supplied pre-cleaned – in fact, Q-Lab’s cleaning and packaging quality allow you to use CX corrosion coupons right out of the package, without compromising test consistency.
Furthermore, CX corrosion coupons are tailored to meet the requirements of major national, international, and manufacturer corrosion test standards without any modification – just plug and play.
Cost-effective
Because of high volume production and Q-Lab’s decades-long history as the leader in standardized test substrates, CX corrosion coupons cost much less than you might expect – often half the pricing of competitors. Purchasing pre-cleaned corrosion coupons reduces the time lab personnel must spend cleaning and handling panels, saving further costs.