Characterization of some aluminium alloys for application as anodes in alkaline batteries

This work deals with the evaluation and characterization of aluminium (99.61%) and some of its alloys namely, Al-Ga-In, Al-Zn, Al-In, Al-Mn and Al-Mg, as anodes in alkaline battery electrolyte. The self-corrosion rate, hydrogen evolution rate and electrochemical properties, such as open circuit potentials, polarization characteristics and anode efficiencies were examined in 4 M KOH solutions. Among the tested alloys, Al-Ga-In alloy is found to be the most promising since it exhibits high open circuit potential, minimum anodic polarization, good anode efficiency and minimum corrosion rate. On the other hand, Al-In and Al-Mn alloys show higher corrosion rate compared with the other alloys. It can be shown that, a stoichiometric correlation exists between the corrosion rate obtained by weight loss and the hydrogen evolution rate.