Independent practice · Rotterdam
Metal fails for reasons. Our work is finding them.
Nordoxa is a materials and corrosion engineering consultancy. We investigate failures, review material selection, and write protective coating and cathodic protection specifications for owners, operators and fabricators.
How we work
Three commitments
Find the mechanism first
A recommendation that is not tied to a mechanism is a guess. We start from the metal and the environment, and only then discuss remedies.
Specify for the site, not the drawing
Corrosivity category, chloride load and real operating excursions decide what survives. These are rarely what the original specification assumed.
Independent of supply
We do not sell coatings, alloys, anodes or inhibitors, and we hold no agency agreements. The recommendation is the whole of the service.
Selected notes
Technical notes
Short pieces on questions that come up repeatedly in review meetings. They are written for engineers who have to make a decision, not for specialists in corrosion science.
Galvanic corrosion in mixed-metal assemblies
Why a stainless fastener in an aluminium bracket is a design decision, not a detail.
Chloride pitting and the limits of PREN
A single number is useful for ranking alloys and dangerous for specifying them.
Passivation of stainless steel, and why it fails
The film is only as good as the surface it forms on and the oxygen it can reach.
Enquiries
Sending us a component or a problem
Most enquiries begin with a short description of the failure or the decision you are facing. Photographs, the material certificate and a note of the service conditions are usually enough for us to say whether we can help and what an investigation would involve.