Atmospheric corrosion of aluminium alloy 2024-T3 exposed to salt lake environment in Western China

Atmospheric corrosion of aluminium alloy 2024-T3 exposed to salt lakes environment for 6 years was investigated by weight loss, analysis of morphology and corrosion products. The results showed an increase in the mass loss with a high rate in the first 2 years, and tended to stabilise over time. A main crystalline component of corrosion products, [Mg1-xAlx(OH)(2)]Cl-x+(x)- center dot mH(2)O, was determined by XRD. Besides pitting and intergranular corrosion, stress corrosion cracks (SCC) were observed in all test periods. According to the analysis, causes for the corrosion behaviour were attributed to the deposition of salts particles (mainly MgCl2 center dot 6H(2)O) and the arid climate. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.