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The influence of grain size on the corrosion behavior of pure aluminum and the defect density and diffusion coefficient of surface passive films were investigated using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and electrochemical testing techniques, based on the point defect model (PDM). Samples with three different grain sizes (23 ± 11, 134 ± 52, and 462 ± 203 μm) were obtained by annealing at different temperatures and times. The polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results for the pure aluminum in the 3.5% NaCl solution showed that with decreasing grain size, the corrosion current (icorr) decreased monotonously, giving rise to a noble corrosion potential and a large polarization resistance. The Motte–Schottky results showed that the passive films that formed on pure aluminum with fine grains of 23 ± 11 μm had a low density (3.82 × 1020 cm−3) of point defects, such as oxygen vacancies and/or metal interstitials, and a small diffusion coefficient (1.94 × 10−17 cm2/s). The influence of grain size on corrosion resistance was discussed. This work demonstrated that grain refinement could be an effective approach to achieving high corrosion resistance of passive metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Al–Mn alloy heat exchanger fin production process includes a brazing treatment at s high temperature of 600 °C, in which coarse grains are preferred for their high resistance to deformation at elevated temperatures by decreasing the grain boundary sliding. In this study, Al-1.57Mn-1.57Zn-0.58Si-0.17Fe alloy foils cold rolled by 81.7% (1.1 mm in thickness) and 96.5% (0.21 mm in thickness) were annealed at 100–550 °C for 1 h to investigate their recrystallization behavior, grain sizes, and precipitates by increasing the annealing temperature, using micro-hardness measurement, electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The micro-hardness results showed that the recrystallization finishing temperatures for the two samples were almost the same, 323 ± 2 °C. The EBSD results showed that when the annealing temperature decreased from 550 to 400 °C, the recrystallized grain sizes of the two samples were nearly identical—both increased slightly. Further decreasing the annealing temperature from 400 to 330 °C caused the grain sizes to increase more, with the thinner foil sample having a more significant increase. The SEM and TEM observations showed that the micron-sized primary-phase remained unchanged during the annealing process. The nano-sized secondary phase precipitates formed during the hot-rolling process experienced a coarsening and dissolving process upon annealing. The particle size of the secondary phase increased from 32 nm to 44 nm and the area fraction decreased from 4.2% to 3.8%. The nucleation analysis confirmed that the large primary-phase could act as a nucleation site through particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) mode. The relatively dense secondary phase precipitates with small sizes at lower temperatures could provide higher Zener drag to the grain boundaries, leading to fewer nuclei and thereafter coarser grains. The coarsening of the recrystallized grains in the foils could be implemented through thickness reduction and/or precipitation processes to form densely distributed nano-sized precipitates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to study the effect of Hg2+ on the corrosion behavior of Al–2%Zn coatings on AA5083 in 3.5 Wt.% NaCl solution. Design/methodology/approach: Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy are used to investigate the effect of Hg2+ on the corrosion behavior. The surface and cross-sectional morphology are characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to further reveal the corrosion mechanism of Hg2+. Findings: The results show that the corrosion behavior of the coating changes significantly as the concentration of Hg2+ increases from 5 to 30 μg/L. The corrosion production film can inhibit the corrosion process when Hg2+ concentration is in the range of 0.5–5 μg/L, while Hg2+ can promote the corrosion process significantly when its concentration reaches to 30 μg/L. The generation rate of dense oxide film on the coating surface is faster than dissolution rate when the concentration of Hg2+ is in the range of 0–5 μg/L, which makes the coating "self-healing" and thus slightly slows down the corrosion rate. The EDS analysis shows that excessive Hg2+ are preferentially deposited at locations with inhomogeneous electrochemical properties, which in turn accelerates corrosion. Originality/value: The corrosion resistance of Al-based coatings is significantly affected by Hg2+ in seawater. Thus, it is important to explain the corrosion mechanism of Al–2%Zn coatings under the combined effect of Hg2+ and Cl− in 3.5 Wt.% NaCl solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion behavior of a multi-layer modified aluminum brazing sheet (AA4045/3003Mod./AA7072/AA4045) was investigated. The results shows that, the existence of BDP, which forms at the interface between clad and core layer during brazing, changes the corrosion form of the air side of the material from inter-granular corrosion to local exfoliation corrosion. The addition of anti-corrosion layer makes the corrosion form of the water side from inter-granular corrosion into uniform exfoliation corrosion. Compared to the normal triple-layer brazing sheet at the same thickness, the time to perforation of the modified four-layer brazing sheet is increased by more than 200%.