Corrosion Test Coupons CORROSION COUPONS
Corrosion test coupons ensure repeatability and reproducibility when performing laboratory corrosion testing. All Q-PANEL CX-series corrosion coupons include Certificate of Analysis, come pre-cleaned and ready to use right out of the package. This allows the user to simply measure the panels and place them in the tester, saving time and effort.
And best of all, CX corrosion coupons are often half the price of competitors’ coupons.
Overview
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, manufacturers must 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 that their testing is reliable and reproducible.
What are Corrosion Coupons?
Corrosion coupons (also known as mass-loss coupons) are standardised 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 minimise 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 ensures that all panels are completely clean when packaged. Corrosion coupons are packed in plastic bags with vapour phase rust inhibitor, preserving a high degree of surface quality for 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 standardised test substrates, CX corrosion coupons cost much less than you might expect – often half the competitors' pricing. Purchasing pre-cleaned corrosion coupons reduce the time lab personnel must spend cleaning and handling panels, saving further costs.
Technical Data
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BrandQ-Lab
Support
At Thermoline, we strive to supply helpful customer support to ensure that you get the most out of our products. We are committed to providing whatever support our customers need, wherever they are in the world. If you can't find your solution in the below FAQs or Knowledge Base, please contact our friendly support team.
- Why are Q-Panel the world standard in testing substates?
- If coatings tests are to be reliable and reproducible, they must be performed on a substrate that is reasonably consistent from test to test. Unfortunately, ordinary commercial sheet steel displays wide variations in surface properties, which affect the bonding of coatings. Q-PANEL steel and aluminium test substrates from Q-Lab minimise metal variability as a source of bias in critical paint, coating and adhesion tests. They are clean, consistent, convenient, and economical.
- Can Q-Panels be used to standardise corrosion loss?
- Q-Lab can also supply a range of corrosion test coupons. Corrosion test coupons ensure repeatability and reproducibility when performing laboratory corrosion testing. They help a user independently monitor the test conditions in a corrosion chamber by measuring the mass loss of the coupons as the test progresses. CX corrosion coupons are designed to meet the stringent requirements specified in modern corrosion test methods.
- How does Q-Lab prevent the steel panels from rusting during transit and storage?
- The Q-Panel production process thoroughly cleans panels and removes any oil from the surface. Special handling assures that all panels are completely clean when they are packaged. Steel panels are packed in plastic bags in quantities of 20 to 50 panels (depending on type and thickness), with a vapour phase rust inhibitor inside a sturdy cardboard carton, for a shelf life of several years. Aluminium panels are packed similarly, except without the rust inhibitor.
