Materials characterization

ISQ has technical and laboratory capability, which makes it possible to characterize, select and evaluate the degradation of metallic, ceramic, polymeric and inorganic materials in the laboratory or on-site. 

Chemical composition

• Bench-top optical emission spectrometry (OES)
• Mobile optical emission spectrometry (Non-destructive test)
• Infrared absorption (carbon and sulphur contents determination)
• X-ray fluorescence (PMI) 
• Structural characterization
• X-ray diffraction (XRD)
• Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
• Surface analysis
• Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GDOES)
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

Mechanical tests  

Metallic materials

• Uniaxial compression and tensile tests until 500kN
• Charpy tests up to 300J, from -196 to +35ºC
• Bend tests up to 200kN and 180ºC
• Fatigue tests up to 500kN
• Nick-break in welded joints up to 500kN
• Fracture tests and Peel-test in welded joints up to 500kN
• Vickers, Rockwell and Brinnel Hardness tests in parent material and welded joints

Polymeric materials

• Uniaxial tensile test until 500kN
• Bend test up to 200kN and 180ºC
• Peel-test, T-peel, or compression tests on welded joints up 500kN
• Shore A and D Hardness
• Microscopic evaluation of the dispersion of carbon black and pigments in Polyolefin

Concrete (freshly mixed and hardened concrete)

• Compression tests of cubes and cylindrical concrete test specimens
• Bending test of concrete prisms
• Concrete slump test (Abrams Cone)
• Cores concrete extraction, cutting and grinding of the faces of compression
• Mortar bending and compression test
• Determination of modulus of elasticity
• Diametrical compression test
• Granulometric analysis
• Experimental stress analysis

Determination of deformation (static or dynamic) at room temperature or high temperature, in materials or components.

Non-destructive technique which allows us to determine the service stress in-situ, i.e. during the normal operation of the equipment. The measurement of residual stresses can be performed through the methods of the hole-drilling, Barkhausen noise and x-ray diffraction. 

Corrosion resistance

Climatic tests

• Salt spray tests (neutral, with acetic acid and with the addition of copper)
• Moisture testing
• Thermal shock tests: temperatures from -45 to 180ºC and humidity from 10 to 98% (between 10 and 95ºC)
• Sulphur dioxide tests (Kesternich test)
• Chemical and electrochemical tests
• Pitting and crevice corrosion (ASTM G48)
• Intergranular corrosion (ASTM A262, ASTM G28, ISO 3651-2, ISO 15329)
• Detecting detrimental intermetallic phase in duplex stainless steels (ASTM A923)

Corrosion under different loading conditions, static or dynamic (SCC, corrosion fatigue)

• DC and AC techniques for electrochemical characterization
• Critical pitting temperature (CPT) and crevice (CCT)

Microbiological tests with impact on materials degradation

• Determination of the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB)
• Determination of total aerobic bacteria
• Determination of the presence of total anaerobic bacteria
• Determination of the presence of Fe-oxidizing bacteria Identification of asbestos fibers in materials Identification and quantification of asbestos fibers through Polarized Light Microscopy, in friable and non-friable material.
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis of other types of non-asbestos fibers that may be present in these materials.

Microestrutural Metallographic tests (macro and micro)

• Classification of imperfections in welded joints
• Microstructural characterization of metallic and polymeric materials
• Determination of average grain size and volume fraction in metallic materials
• Determination of thickness of surface hardened layers in steel
• Determination of coatings thickness (galvanized steels, paints, varnishes)
• Graphite classification in cast irons
• Determination of non-metallic inclusions in steels and cast irons
• Microstructural characterization of welded joints
• Metallographic replicas (non-destructive testing)

The wide technical capability of Materials Laboratory is not confined to performing tests, but develops R&D activities and offers the following services:

• Materials characterization
• Corrosion failure analyses
• Microbiological corrosion
• Corrosion monitoring
• Cathodic protection
• Materials selection
• Research of degradation mechanisms by corrosion
• Hydrogen embrittlement
• Corrosion performance of welded joints