Corrosion behavior of the AlSi5Cu2Mg alloy with varying Zr addition

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to analyze the impact of varying zirconium additions (0.05; 0.10; 0.15 and 0.20 wt. % Zr) on corrosion behavior of the AlSi5Cu2Mg aluminum alloy. Potentiodynamic polarization corrosion tests in 3.5 % NaCl solution demonstrated that the addition of Zr improved the thermodynamic corrosion stability of the AlSi5Cu2Mg alloy by shifting the corrosion potential to more positive values for all as-cast samples. The addition of Zr to the as-cast alloys also improved corrosion kinetics by lowering the corrosion current density.