Effect of Cu and Mg on the Corrosion Resistance of Squeeze Casting Al-Si-Mg-Cu Alloy
Author of the article:ZHOUWeihu1, CHENLai1, WANGDongtao2, WANG Rui2, LI Cong1, LI Zhenyu1, YANXuanjie1, NAGAUMI Hiromi1,2
Author's Workplace:1. Weiqiao (Suzhou) Lightweight Research Center Co., Ltd., Suzhou 215000, China; 2. School of Iron and Steel, Soochow University, Suzhou 215000, China
Key Words:Al-Si-Mg-Cu; corrosion resistance; electrochemistry; nanophase
Abstract:
Mg and Cu can significantly improve the strength of Al-Si alloys, but at the same time, they also affect their
corrosion resistance. To explore the influence of Mg and Cu on Al-Si alloys, which are based on an Al-7 wt.% Si-0.3 wt.%
Mg alloy, electrochemical testing methods were used to analyse the effects of the addition of Mg and Cu on the corrosion
resistance of Al-Si-Mg-Cu alloys after T6 heat treatment. The results show that with increasing contents of Mg and Cu and
increasing corrosion time, the impedance value of the Al-7 wt.%Si-Mg-Cu alloy decreases, the radius of the Nyquist
capacitance loop decreases, the corrosion current density increases, and the corrosion resistance of the alloy tends to
decrease. When the content of Mg increases from 0.3 wt.% to 0.5 wt.%, the corrosion current density increases by 3.5%,
and when the content of Cu increases from 0 wt.% to 0.65 wt.%, the corrosion current density increases by 10.1%. This
indicates that with a slight increase in the contents of Mg and Cu, the corrosion resistance of the alloy slightly decreases.
Although the nanophases precipitated by Mg and Cu during the aging process accelerate corrosion, the corrosion damage
caused by the addition of a small amount of Mg and Cu to the alloy is relatively light.