Patrick Chapon

This webinar introduces a lifecycle approach to materials degradation, following the journey from material qualification and surface characterization through corrosion initiation, propagation, failure analysis, and asset life extension. Through examples spanning low-temperature and high-temperature corrosion environments-including industrial processes, batteries, advanced energy systems, aerospace applications, and nuclear technologies-viewers will discover how complementary analytical methods provide unique insights at each stage of the degradation process.

The nuclear industry is evolving rapidly. There is an increasing demand for safety, efficiency, and decarbonization, alongside the ageing of reactors and the rise of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). In this webinar, HORIBA will demonstrate how advanced analytical technologies, including ICP, GD, EMIA/EMGA, Raman spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis (PCA), are transforming nuclear operations.

Crystallinity and material structure are key to maximizing battery energy and power density. HORIBA’s µRaman and QCarbon tools offer direct access to carbon ID/IG ratios and coating uniformity, while GDOES reveal elemental depth profiles. This webinar guides you through essential characterization techniques for both carbon-based and cathode materials, empowering better design and quality control for next-gen batteries.

Surface and interface studies need complementary analytical techniques, like GDOES and Raman, to provide elemental profiles and molecular insights on multilayers of various depths. This webinar illustrates this complementarity by showing selected results on polymeric coatings, anodic films, batteries, coatings on glass and DLC coatings.

For corrosion purposes, to predict failures, optimize material lifespan, and develop effective corrosion protection strategies, ensuring durability and reliability in demanding environments, different advanced analytical solutions are needed. We will present a comprehensive range of advanced analytical solutions for the corrosion market, designed to address the complexities of corrosion processes and protection strategies.

This application note demonstrates the use of pulsed RF GD-OES for nanometric depth profiling of (Al,Ga)N quantum wells and quantum dots. The technique supports process optimization and quality control of layer thickness and composition in advanced UV optoelectronic structures.

A Li-ion battery is a rechargeable battery in which lithium ions move between the anode and the cathode creating an electricity flow. Whether you study new electrodes or coatings behaviors, charge and discharge processes, process controls, or perform comparative studies for Li-ion batteries, Pulsed RF Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry is a valuable companion tool.

GD-OES offers you a way to characterize the surface of under-layers by analyzing GD-OES craters using Raman and µ-XRF, confirming no alteration of the surface in complex organic/inorganic coatings.

Some examples of elemental depth profiles of films on glass are shown coming from published data and results from the GD days illustrating the capability of the Pulsed RF GDOES instrument in this domain.

RF GD OES is well known for ultra fast elemental depth profile of thin and thick films. All elements can be measured including Hydrogen (H) which is important in many application fields - for corrosion studies, for PV, in metallurgy, for the development of hydrogen storage materials and for all polymeric coatings studies to name a few. The most sensitive emission line for H is in the VUV range at 121,567 nm.

Pulsed RF GDOES is a companion analytical tool for magnetron sputtering deposition. Magnetron sputtering is a type of Plasma Vapour Deposition. The vacuum chamber of the PVD coating machine is filled with an inert gas, such as argon. By applying a high voltage (RF, HIPIMS etc), a glow discharge is created, resulting in acceleration of ions to the target surface and a plasma coating. The argon-ions will eject sputtering materials from the target surface (sputtering), resulting in a sputtered coating layer on the products in front of the target.

Metal and Metal oxides nanoparticles are introduced in films to enhance or add properties – corrosion resistance, photonics effects, antibacterial activity etc. HORIBA is partner of a French research project that, in the same chamber, couples a spray of nanoparticles onto PVD growing layers. Pulsed RF GDOES is used in many researches on these new materials to study the depth profile distribution of the particles and the thickness of the composite layer.

Bipolar plates are key components of proton exchange membrane fuel cells – they notably distribute fuel gas and air and conduct electricity. Various materials and surface treatments have been developed to improve their properties. Here, we described a reverse engineering study on a bipolar plate from a commercial vehicle using GD-OES and Raman spectroscopy. The analyses revealed that the plate had an amorphous carbon coating on a titanium base plate.