The visit to the Institut für Korrosionsschutz Dresden GmbH (IKS) by BG Sachsen had been planned for a long time and had to be postponed again and again, first due to coronavirus and later due to scheduling problems. But on November 14, 2024, the event in Dresden could now be realized. The IKS was founded in 1991. It emerged from the former Central Office for Corrosion Protection, which was founded by the then Rector of Dresden University of Technology, Professor Kurt Schwabe, on April 1, 1965. Its aims were to intensify corrosion research, to build up a data collection and to transfer research results directly into practice. Today, the IKS still pursues the same goals as the ZKS, but taking into account the current tasks. Research in the field of corrosion and corrosion protection, especially of metallic materials, has been the core competence of the institute for decades. It works on projects of fundamental interest on the one hand, and on individual problems of individual branches of industry or companies on the other. The IKS conducts industry-oriented research, development and technology transfer in the fields of corrosion, corrosion protection and corrosion analysis.
Since 1994 the IKS has been a 100% subsidiary of the Technical Academy Wuppertal (TAW) and since 1998 an affiliated institute of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. The IKS currently has 43 employees.
Dr. Jörg Gehrke, authorized signatory and head of the Corrosion Protection and Process Engineering department, welcomed the participants and presented the main topics and challenges of a non-funded industrial research institute to BG Sachsen. With the accredited testing laboratory for corrosion protection and corrosion analysis, the testing laboratory in accordance with ZTV-KOR steel structures and the tasks of coating testing, quality assurance, damage clarification and further training, the IKS generates the basis for its own and funded in-house research activities.
The IKS has four specialist departments:
- Materials and electrochemistry (including material behavior, electrochemical corrosion tests)
- Coatings (corrosive loads, duplex systems and others)
- Coatings and analysis (including zinc coatings, instrumental and wet-chemical analysis)
- Corrosion protection and process engineering
- Gehrke provided information on the current focal points of his specialist department for corrosion protection and process engineering. These are the following topics in particular:
- Wet-chemical surface pre-treatment systems and processes
- Development of new blasting processes
- Testing of blasting media
- Electro dip painting (ETL) and powder coating
- Development of corrosion protection concepts when using different materials
- Combined mechanical-medial loads
- Galvanic metal deposition
- Quality assurance construction supervision
- Preparation of technical statements (e.g. corrosion protection requirements / corrosivities), expert opinions and investigation reports.
Dr. Daniel Wett, who has been working as a project manager at the IKS since 2017, then reported on research into hard chrome replacement. As part of the M-ERA.NET joint project NiWRe-Alloys (Electroplating NiW and NiRe Alloys as functional alternative coatings), the IKS is working on Ni-W alloy coatings with which a hardness comparable to hard chrome coatings can be achieved. Wett reported on the strategies for hard chrome coatings with high corrosion protection, such as the interruption of crack structures by double and triple coatings with layer thicknesses far above 30 µm or the combination with non-porous hot chrome undercoats (duplex). The corrosion behavior of 30 µm thick hard chromium layers of different technical electrolytes available on the market served as a reference. These were examined by means of cross-sectional analysis, the microhardness (approx. 970 HV) was determined and aged for 72 h and 432 h under typical NSS conditions.
Wett showed with a glance at the literature the hardness mechanism of the Ni-W alloy layers to be utilized. Above 13 wt% tungsten there is an excess of tungsten which contributes to grain size reduction. The crystal size can be moved into the range of 10 nm and smaller. With these crystal sizes, micro-hardnesses of 1000 HV can be achieved, which are also temperature-stable up to 600 °C. Acidic and alkaline electrolytes based on Ni-W-citrate complexes are used. IKS concentrates on alkaline systems and coats in laboratory electroplating under near-process conditions.
The results obtained look promising for a possible replacement solution for hard chromium coatings. The IKS will continue the investigations and present the results at relevant DGO/ZVO events. The results presented were discussed intensively by the participants and confirmed as a starting point for further investigations. During the subsequent tour of the institute, the participants were able to see for themselves the good state of the equipment and state-of-the-art analysis technology.
The Saxony district group would like to thank Dr. Gehrke and Dr. Witt for the very interesting insights into the activities of the IKS and the lively discussion with the audience.
