Anasys Instruments reports on the recent installation of an AFM-IR system at the Corrosion & Protection Centre, part of the School of Materials at the University of Manchester for use by the group of Professor Stuart Lyon.

Corrosion is of primary concern in many industrial sectors, including oil, transportation, infrastructure, nuclear, and even bio-technology. At the University of Manchester, the Corrosion and Protection Centre has one of the world’s largest academic bases focused on corrosion and its control.

Professor Stuart Lyon is the Director of Research and AkzoNobel Professor of Corrosion Control in the School of Materials. His research interests are varied covering the majority of interests in corrosion science and engineering and in corrosion protection and control. He has published around 150 papers and articles of all types and was awarded the DSc degree in 2002 for research predominantly in atmospheric corrosion. His studies in corrosion protection have covered many topics: in industry, he has looked at problems in oil, gas and nuclear, through to the environment looking at the protection and maintenance of metallic cultural heritage artefacts.

Advanced characterization techniques play a key role in this research. Professor Lyon has recently added the new AFM-IR system (Anasys Instruments), a recent scientific breakthrough that enables nanoscale chemical composition. This laboratory solution combines key elements of both nanoscale IR spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to enable the acquisition of infrared spectra at spatial resolutions well beyond the optical diffraction limit. In addition to revealing chemical composition, the AFM-IR system provides high-resolution characterization of local topographic, mechanical, and thermal properties. Potential application areas span the realms of polymer science, materials science, and life science, including detailed studies of structure property correlations.

The Anasys AFM-IR will be used primarily for research and development of advanced organic paint coatings for corrosion control.

Commenting on his decision to select this new technology from Anasys’ UK distributors, Blue Scientific, Professor Lyon said “we selected the AFM-IR system for its ease of use and its proven ability to produce robust, high spatial resolution infrared maps as well as to undertake spectroscopy below the normal diffraction limit in a manner which allows direct correlation to known IR data libraries from bulk IR measurements.”

As part of the supply agreement, the new nano AFM-IR installation will become the official Anasys demonstration centre within the UK, whereby the AFM-IR technology can be showcased to other scientists interested in exploring the capabilities of nano infrared spectroscopy. 

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