Effect of heat treatment on the corrosion characteristics of AL-Li alloys

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to study the general room temperature corrosion characteristics of heat-treated and non-heat-treated Al-Li alloys with different Li contents. Corrosion rate was measured using both the polarization method and the weight-loss method. It was observed that the samples with higher Li content has lower corrosion resistance than those with lower Li content. Moreover, for all the specimens tested, it was found that heat treatment at 180°C for 2 h (for the purpose of precipitation hardening) severely reduces the corrosion resistance whereas heat treatment at 180°C for 6 h significantly increases the corrosion resistance.