Correlation between corrosion pits and stresses in Al alloys
By Pidaparti, Ramana M. & Patel, Ronak R.
Published in Materials Letters
2008
Abstract
Pitting corrosion is commonly observed in a wide range of aluminum alloys that are being used for aerospace applications. There is a need to study the stress environment around pits in order to predict the nucleation of cracks. The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between pits and stresses in aluminum alloys. Corrosion experiments were carried out on aluminum 2024-T3 alloy samples and imaged through Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to obtain the pit profiles. An analysis procedure was developed using CAD and finite element analysis to predict stresses resulting from corrosion pits. Based on the analysis, it was observed that the stress distribution and levels on the corroded surface varied due to irregularity in the corrosion process. The results obtained indicate that the stress initially increases and reaches a plateau with increasing corrosion time. From these stresses it is possible to estimate the initiation of cracks, from which the life can be estimated for failure in the material.