Development of corrosion resistant alloys offers immense opportunity

Aluminium alloys are light, strong and very versatile. But when requiring certain property combinations, they can let the team down when it comes to corrosion resistance.

Developing aluminium alloys with appropriate resistance to corrosion requires a detailed knowledge of the factors that lead to corrosion in the first place.

Monash Engineering researchers are working towards the development of corrosion resistant aluminium alloys – or at least alloys that corrode at a much slower rate.

This requires a combination of micro-structural characterisation at the nano and micro length scales and simultaneous quantitative knowledge of the electrochemical properties of the alloy on a phase-by-phase basis. Using this approach, Dr. Birbilis has helped to typify the paradigm that the corrosion performance of a bulk alloy can be considered as the summary kinetic electrochemical response of its components.

It sounds tricky and it is. Dr Nick Birbilis has received ARC Linkage funding to develop the concept further. He hopes that by ‘tricking’ the structure in order to cheat corrosion, the end-use versatility will be extended.

As a result, the quantitative link between microstructure and electrochemistry is not only being exploited to understand the corrosion process in a mechanistic and engineering sense - but for the development of more corrosion resistant alloys.

“The opportunities will be very exciting if we can develop engineered systems, using durable, reliable corrosion resistant alloys” says Dr Birbilis.

http://www.arclightmetals.org.au/