Korean Institute of Surface Engineering

pISSN : 1225-8024 | eISSN : 3399-8403


공학

한국표면공학회지 (39권1호 25-34)

Corrosion Behavior of Aluminium Coupled to a Sacrificial Anode in Seawater

희생양극 하에서 알루미늄의 해수 부식 거동

김종수;김희산;
Kim Jong-Soo;Kim Hee-San;

홍익대학교 금속공학과;
School of Materials Sci. & Eng. Hongik University;

Abstract

Al-Mg alloy, an open rack vaporizer(ORV) material was reported to be corroded in seawater environments though the ORV material was coupled to thermally sprayed Al-Zn alloy functioning a sacrificial anode. In addition, the corrosion behavior based on the calculated corrosion potential did not match the observed corrosion behavior. Hence, the goal of this study is to get better understanding on Al or Al-Mg alloy coupled to Al-Zn alloy and to provide the calculated corrosion potential representing the corrosion behavior of the ORV material by immersion test, electrochemical tests, and calculation of corrosion and galvanic potential. The corrosion potentials of Al and Al alloys also depended on alloying element as well as surface defects. The corrosion potentials of Al and Al-Mg alloy were changed with time. In the meantime, the corrosion potentials of Al-Zn alloys were not. The corrosion rates of Al-Zn alloys were exponentially increased with zinc contents. The phenomena were explained with the stability of passive film proved by passive current density depending on pH and confirmed by the model proposed by McCafferty. Dissimilar material crevice corrosion (DMCC) test shows that higher content of zinc caused Al-Mg alloy corroded more rapidly, which was due to the fact that higher corrosion rate of Al-Zn makes [$H^+$] and [$Cl^-$] more concentrated within pit solution to corrode Al-Mg alloy. Considering electrochemical reactions within pit as well as bulk in the calculation gives better prediction on the corrosion behavior of Al and Al-Mg alloy as well as the capability of Al-Zn alloy for corrosion protection.

Keywords

Open rack vaporizer;Boundary element method;Galvanic potential;Al-Zn alloy;Pitting corrosion;