The Development of Test Sites and Atmospheric Corrosion Studies of Metal Alloys and Coatings Exposed to Cold Arctic/Sub-Arctic Climate

During the summer of 2022, I was honored to be a recipient of the Alaska Space Grant Program’s Early
Career Research Apprenticeship Award. As a recipient, I worked as a Research Apprentice at the
University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) under the direction of Dr. Raghu Srinivasan.
Dr. Srinivasan’s research project, The Development of Test Sites and Atmospheric Corrosion Studies of
Metal Alloys and Coatings Exposed to Cold Arctic/Sub-Arctic Climate, is funded by the NASA EPSCoR
Program. This project aims to study the corrosion impacts of cold climates and atmospheric corrosion
mechanisms. The project exposes metal alloy coupons to various atmospheric conditions at test sites
throughout Alaska. Similar test sites are located in Florida and Hawaii where samples are exposed to
tropical marine and volcanic environments. The project includes five different metals that are being
studied under the atmospheric conditions in four Alaskan locations, with each metal being displayed at
three different angles of environmental exposure:0, 30, and 45 degrees.