Characterization by acoustic emission and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of the cathodic disbonding of Zn coating

Galvanized steel has been tested in a synthetic sea water solution under different cathodic overprotection conditions. The generated hydrogen flux caused the damage of the metal–zinc interface and led to a progressive coating detachment. Scanning electron microscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and acoustic emission technique were used to characterize the damage chronology under different cathodic potentials. A damage mechanism was proposed and the acoustic signature related to the coating degradation was statistically identified using clustering techniques.