Effect of Scandium and Zirconium on Mechanical and Exfoliation Corrosion Properties of Al-Mg-Mn Alloys

To quest for the best combination of mechanical properties and exfoliation corrosion resisting property of Al-Mg-Mn base alloys, and to seek after the effect of Sc and Zr on mechanical and exfoliation corrosion properties of Al-Mg-Mn alloys, comparative research technique was used, the mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Mn alloys with and without minor Sc and Zr treated by different annealing were measured, the degrees of exfoliation corrosion for these alloys through accelerated exfoliation corrosion test were evaluated, and polarization curves of these alloys were measured, too. The micro-morphologies of corrosion specimens were observed by SEM and the corrosion product was analyzed using EDS. Optical microscope and TEM were used, the relationship between their microstruc-tures and mechanical properties, exfoliation corrosion resisting property was investigated, and the results show that the addition of minor Sc and Zr can enhance the strength greatly and also improve the combination of strength and plasticity. Moreover, the addition of minor Sc, Zr does not cause appreciable decrease of exfoliation corrosion resisting property, the Al-Mg-Mn-Sc-Zr alloy annealed at 350 ℃ for 1 h has excellent combination of mechanical properties and exfoliation corrosion resisting property, the satisfied combination of mechanical properties nad exfoliation corrosion resisting property can be obtained by means of adding minor Sc and Zr, decreasing the content of Mn, and adopting reasonable annealing practice.

Impact of cooling rate on exfoliation corrosion resistance of a Li-containing 7xxx aluminum alloy

The impact of cooling rate after solution heat treatment on exfoliation corrosion resistance of a Li-containing 7xxx aluminum alloy was investigated by accelerated immersion and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy test,optical microscope,electron backscatter diffraction and scanning transmission electron microscope.With the decrease of cooling rate from 1700℃/s to 4℃/s,exfoliation corrosion resistance of the aged specimens decreases with rating changing from EA to EC and the maximum corrosion depth increasing from about 169.4μm to 632.1μm.Exfoliation corrosion tends to develop along grain boundaries in the specimens with cooling rates higher than about 31℃/s and along both grain boundaries and sub-grain boundaries in the specimens with lower cooling rates.The reason has been discussed based on the changes of the microstructure and microchemistry at grain boundaries and sub-grain boundaries due to slow cooling.

Exfoliation corrosion of extruded Mg-Li-Ca alloy

Exfoliation on as-extruded Mg-1 Li-1 Ca magnesium alloy was investigated after an immersion in 3.5 wt%NaCl aqueous solution for 90, 120 and 150 days through optical microscope, digital camera, scanning electron microscope, electrochemical workstation, scanning Kalvin probe, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscope. The results demonstrated that exfoliation corrosion occurred on extruded Mg-1 Li-1 Ca alloy due to elongated microstructure parallel to surface, and delamination of lamellar structure resulted from galvanic effect and wedge effect. Skin layer with fine grains exhibited better corrosion resistance, whereas the interior with coarse grains and the intermetallic compound,Mg2 Ca particles existing in a fibrous structure, dispersed along grain boundaries and extrusion direction in a line. Furthermore, galvanic effect between Mg2 Ca particles and their neighboring a-Mg matrix facilitated dissolution of Mg2 Ca particles and a-Mg matrix; wedge effect was caused by formation of corrosion products. Exfoliation corrosion of extruded Mg-Li-Ca alloys might be a synergic effect of pitting corrosion,filiform corrosion, intergranular corrosion and stress corrosion. Finally, exfoliation corrosion mechanism was proposed.

Effect of mold and core preheating temperature on corrosion resistance of casting Al-12Si alloy U-shaped cooling channel

Temperature has an important impact on the corrosion resistance of mold with cooling channels prepared by casting method.The effect of preheating temperature of the mold and the carbon fiber core on the roughness and corrosion resistance of U-shaped cooling channels made of Al-12Si alloy was examined in depth.The experimental results suggest that as the preheating temperature increased from 273 K to 573 K,the roughness of the inner wall of the cooling channel reduced from 96.6μm to 77.0μm.When the preheating temperature continued to increase to 723 K,the roughness increased to 85.3μm.The wetting between the Al melt and the carbon fiber will reduce micro bubbles and waves on the channel wall as the preheating temperature rises,thereby reducing the roughness.However,with the further increase of preheating temperature,it will increase the solidification time of the Al melt.At this time,the carbon fiber and Al melt will take more time to react,which increases the roughness of the channel wall to a certain extent.The results of exfoliation corrosion show that the larger roughness will aggravate exfoliation corrosion.The prolongation of high temperature reaction time between the carbon fiber and the Al melt will lead to the segregation of Si,which is easy to cause intergranular corrosion.Therefore,reasonable preheating temperature has an important impact on the roughness and corrosion resistance of U-shaped cooling channels.

Corrosion behavior of an Al-6Mg-Sc-Zr alloy

The corrosion behavior of an Al-6Mg-Sc-Zr alloy was studied and compared with that of an Al-6Mg-Zr alloy. The addition of scandium into the Al-6Mg-Zr alloy reduced the susceptibility to exfoliation corrosion. By using the constant load tensile method in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution, the resistance to SCC of the Al-6Mg-Sc-Zr alloy was higher than that of the Al-6Mg-Zr alloy. When the specimens were not applied with an anodic current, the Al-6Mg-Sc-Zr alloy was resistance to SCC and no brittle cracking was found on the fracture surface. When an anodic current was applied, the Al-6Mg-Sc-Zr alloy specimens failed as a result of accelerated corrosion rather than SCC. It was believed that the addition of scandium re- sulted in （Al3Sc, Zr） particles that greatly refined grains and promoted the formation of homogeneous discontinuous distribution of β-phase in the alloy base, which much contributed to good corrosion resistance of the Al-6Mg-Sc-Zr alloy.

Effect of Scandium on Corrosion Resistance of Welded Joint ofAl-6Mg-Zr Alloy

The corrosion resistance of welded joints of Al-6Mg-Sc-Zr alloy was studied by neutral salt spray and exfoliation corrosion methods. The microstructure of welded joints was investigated by using optical microscope and transmission electron micrograph (TEM). It is demonstrated that the welded joints of Al-6Mg-Sc-Zr alloy are more corrosion resistance, comparing with Al-6Mg-Zr alloy. The addition of scandium in the alloy results in (Al_3Sc, Zr) particles, potently refined grains and restrained recrystallization process. The formation of homogeneous, discontinuous distribution of β-phase in welded joints improves the corrosion resistance of welded joints of Al-Mg-Zr alloy with high level content of magnesium.

ELECTROCHEMICAL STUDY ON THE LOCALIZED CORROSION OF TWO DIFFERENT TEMPER LY12 ALLOYS

The corrosion behavior of two different aged LY12 alloys in EXCO （234g/L NaCl, 50g/L KNO3 0.1M HNO3） and MIL-H-600 （35g/L NaCl, 5g/L （NH4）2SO4） solutions were studied using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy （EIS） in conjunction with SEM technique respectively, and the pH variation of the above accelerated corrosion solution during materials corroding was also measured to characterize the corrosion processes. At the beginning of corrosion, EIS plots exhibited two capacitive arcs in the high frequency range （Cd） and mediate frequency range （ Cf） originating from the original corroded surface and the newly formed interface respectively, and a low frequency inductive loop due to the relaxation phenomenon of reaction intermediates. In the EXCO,solution, the EIS results showed that once the exfoliation corrosion occurred, the inductive loop disappeared. The results also showed that the exfoliation corrosion susceptibility of state T6 is much higher than that of state T3, but the intergranular corrosion susceptibility has a reverse order. Based on the relationship of EIS results with SEM and metalloscopy morphologies of the corroding substrates and physic-chemical meaning of EIS parameters, an index （Cf/Cd） has been proposed to characterize the extent of the localized corrosion, which variation tallies with the real corrosion extent correctly. Meanwhile, good agreement was found between the experimental results and the electrochemical model proposed and, good coherence between the electrochemical features and the distribution type of constituent particles of corroding material was observed.

Effect of interrupted aging on mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of 7A75 aluminum alloy

The effects of interrupted aging on mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of 7A75 aluminum alloy extruded bar were investigated through various analyses,including electrical conductivity,mechanical properties,local corrosion properties,and slow strain rate tensile stress corrosion tests.Microstructure characterization techniques such as metallographic microscopy,scanning electron microscopy(SEM),and transmission electron microscopy(TEM)were also employed.The results indicate that the tensile strength of the alloy produced by T6I6 aging is similar to that produced by T6I4 aging,and it even exceeds 700 MPa.Furthermore,the yield strength increases by 52.7 MPa,reaching 654.8 MPa after T6I6 aging treatment.The maximum depths of intergranular corrosion(IGC)and exfoliation corrosion(EXCO)decrease from 116.3 and 468.5μm to 89.5 and 324.3μm,respectively.The stress corrosion factor also decreases from 2.1%to 1.6%.These findings suggest that the alloy treated with T6I6 aging exhibits both high strength and excellent stress corrosion cracking resistance.Similarly,when the alloy is treated with T6I4,T6I6 and T6I7 aging,the sizes of grain boundary precipitates(GBPs)are found to be 5.2,18.4,and 32.8 nm,respectively.The sizes of matrix precipitates are 4.8,5.7 and 15.7 nm,respectively.The atomic fractions of Zn in GBPs are 9.92 at.%,8.23 at.%and 6.87 at.%,respectively,while the atomic fractions of Mg are 12.66 at.%,8.43 at.%and 7.00 at.%,respectively.Additionally,the atomic fractions of Cu are 1.83 at.%,2.47 at.%and 3.41 at.%,respectively.

Corrosion Evolution of High-Strength Aluminum Alloys in the Simulated Service Environment of Amphibious Aircraft in the Presence of Chloride and Bisulfite

The corrosion evolution of 2024-T351 and 7075-T651 aluminum alloys in the thin electrolyte layer(TEL)and wet-dry alternating cycle(WDAC)environment is studied in this work.The results show that in the TEL environment,the competitive effect between H+that accelerates corrosion reactions and deposition of aluminum sulfate that impedes corrosion attacks exists during the corrosion exposure.The difference is that with increasing HSO_(3)^(-),subsurface intergranular corrosion on 2024-T351 is promoted to form exfoliation corrosion eventually and the degree of exfoliation corrosion begins to decrease because the blocking effect of aluminum sulfate exceeds the expediting effect of H+.For 7075-T651,the corrosion area and the corrosion diameter decrease gradually,which is attributed to the HSO_(3)^(-)-enhanced deposition of corrosion products and their blocking effect.In the WDAC environment,the corrosion processes of 2024-T351 and 7075-T651 are the acidic dissolution of the matrix during the soaking phase.When the HSO_(3)^(-)concentration is high enough(0.1 M),the inhibiting effect of aluminum sulfate becomes the dominant factor.