Review of the possible application of laboratory testing techniques for corrosion protection of steel structures

The article includes examples of problems with the corrosion protection of steel structures after a few or several years of operation and presents selected laboratory testing techniques used during technical assessments. The research techniques used included infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). These enabled the following questions to be answered: whether the paint was applied according to the required technology, whether a conversion coating was applied before the powder coating, why a correctly applied zinc coating did not provide sufficient corrosion protection for the fasteners of the steel structure. The paper also details other applications of the presented research methods, not only in the field of performing technical expert reviews, but also in testing systems used in the corrosion protection of steel structures.