Corrosion Resistance of Precipitation-Hardened Al Alloys: A Comparison between New Generation Al-Cu-Li and Conventional Alloys

The corrosion resistance of conventional (AA2024-T3, AA6082-T6 and AA7050-T7451) and the new generation (AA2050-T84, AA2098-T351, AA2198-T8, and AA2198-T851) precipitation-hardened alloys has been studied and compared using electrochemical and non-electrochemical approaches. The AA6082-T6 was the most resistant alloy followed by the new generation Al-Cu-Li alloys, except the AA2050-T84. All the alloys exhibited pseudo-passivity, except for the AA2024-T3 alloy which presented the highest number of pitting sites per cm2 and also exhibited the most insidious form of corrosion amongst the alloys tested. However, the alloy with the highest corrosion depth was the AA2050-T84 alloy followed by the AA2024-T3 and AA7050-T7451 alloys. Intergranular corrosion was associated with rapid rates of penetration. In addition to the microstructural features of the alloys before corrosion, the modes of localized corrosion in the alloys were also influenced by evolving microstructural features (such as re-deposited Cu) during corrosion.