Abstract
Chemical throwing power, being the distance over which an inhibitor is able to protect a defect effectively, is an important parameter for active protective coatings. This study investigates the chemical throwing power of lithium-based leachable corrosion inhibitors exhibiting different leaching kinetics, from coatings at different inhibitor loading concentrations. The results demonstrate that Li-salt loaded coatings provide corrosion protection of defect areas up to a width of 6 mm. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) was used to detect the lateral spread of Li in the defect areas and provide the chemical speciation of corrosion protective layers in the defect areas.