The Corrosion Science and Technology Group in the Materials Science and Technology Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory does a broad range of corrosion research to support all forms of transportation and energy including nuclear, fusion, renewable energies, hydrogen production and hydrogen use.
Research
We develop solutions to environmental degradation problems through application of fundamental mechanistic understanding, laboratory simulation of extreme environments, advanced characterization techniques, extensive materials databases, physic-based models, industrial collaborations, field studies, and expertise of our six technicians and eight Ph.D. scientists. Our staff has experience with a broad range of materials fabricated by conventional and advanced processes such as aluminum alloys, steels, Ni-based superalloys, refractory metals, advanced ceramics, multi-material and graded structures, and corrosion-resistant coatings. Specialty areas are creating model alloys to assist in alloy design, mechanistic studies, lifetime modeling, and mechanical testing in controlled and/or corrosive environments.
The group has extensive laboratory facilities including high temperature (1700°C) in controlled atmospheres (steam, supercritical CO2, hydrogen, mixed gases, etc.), high pressure, sulfidizing and carburizing environments, liquid metals, molten salts, bio-fuels and other renewables, and aqueous and atmospheric corrosion. Unique mechanical testing systems have been developed to perform tensile, creep, fatigue and burst testing in controlled environments such as steam, molten salts, simulated exhaust, helium or vacuum using digital image correlation for high throughput data acquisition. We develop solutions to corrosion issues ranging from basic failure analysis, corrosion monitoring and materials selection to new alloy design and component lifetime predictions.
