Estudo do comportamento de corrosão dos intermetálicos presentes na liga AA 2024-T3, por meio de técnicas de microscopia associada a técnicas eletroquímicas / INVESTIGATION ON THE CORROSION BEHAVIOUR OF THE INTERMETALLICS IN THE AA 2024-T3 ALLOY BY MICROSCOPY ASSOCIATED TO ELECTROCHEMICAL TECHNIQUES.

Fernanda Martins Queiroz

The AA2024-T3 aluminium alloy is largely used in the aerospace industry. It has high mechanical properties due to the presence of alloying elements, mainly copper, that form finely distributed precipitates coherent with the matrix, during controlled aging treatment. However, during this process, large intermetallics (IMs) are also formed with composition and electrochemical activity different from the matrix, making the alloy highly susceptible to localized corrosion. Many works have been published in literature on the corrosion behavior of the AA2024-T3 alloy associated to the presence of IMs, however, the subject is still controversial and many aspects need further detailed investigation. In the last years, high resolution microscopy techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) associated to X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) simultaneously with conventional and localized electrochemical techniques have largely contributed to these studies. In the present work the results of studies carried out on the corrosion behavior of the AA 2024-T3 alloy in chloride solutions of low concentration are presented. The investigation was undertaken by combining the above characterization techniques with conventional electrochemical techniques: open circuit potential (OCP) measurements as a function of immersion time, polarization curves (PC) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and also techniques of high spatial resolution such as scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET). The microstructural characterization of the AA 2024-T3 alloy corroborated the heterogeneous nature of the IMs, and as the main contributions, evidenced the presence of secondary phases (either crystalline or amorphous) inside the IMs and the heterogenous microstructure of the matrix at the vicinity of the IMs. All these properties might sinergically contribute to the complex corrosion behavior showed by the IMs. Besides, it was also found that the IMs suffer electrochemical and chemical attack, this last type being caused by local pH increase. The results of the conventional electrochemical techniques showed that under the conditions adopted in the present study, the corrosion of the AA2024-T3 is ruled by the corrosion behavior of the IMs. In this perspective, the oxygen transport to the cathodic sites generated by the IMs rather than the chloride concentration, seems to be the controlling step of the corrosion rate. On the other hand, the analysis of the EIS high frequency data allowed to elucidate the the interfacial processes occurring during the corrosion of the aluminium alloy investigated. The viability of the use of SVET to study the corrosion initiation in the AA2024-T3 was evaluated and a system for experimental data acquisition by localized electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was installed and validated. The SVET showed that the electrochemical activity of the AA2024-T3 takes place since the first periods of immersion in the test electrolyte.

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