Virtual instrumentation in corrosion measurements

We present a virtual instrument technology implementation for some corrosion measurements tasks, resulted in a very compact device (embedded system), designed to be a low cost alternative of commonly used PGstat apparatus. The device is made up with a low cost, but powerful Cypress PSoC microcontroller. The techniques we have used are the basic polarization resistance method and the square-wave voltammetry. A computer with a LabVIEW application controls our device and processes the data. The communication is wireless over a 2.4GHz RF link. We present measurements regarding the corrosion behavior of copper and some copper alloys in seawater.