Study of the localized corrosion of over-aged aeronautical 2024 aluminum alloy. Kelvin probe Force Microscopy (KFM) application

Abstract

The 2xxx serie aluminum alloys are characterized by good mechanical performances and low density, however they are susceptible to different forms of localized corrosion: pitting corrosion, intergranular corrosion and stress corrosion cracking. The 2024-T351 aluminum alloy is used in the aircraft industry for numerous applications such as fuselage and door skin. Corrosion damage of the material is also very detrimental for the structural integrity of the aircraft. The presence of coarse intermetallic particles, with a heterogeneous size distribution was found to be responsible for the 2024 susceptibility to localized corrosion. These particles are generally the cause of initiation sites. Presence of micro-defects in the oxide film upon coarse intermetallic particles and the galvanic coupling with the matrix contribute to the development of pitting corrosion. The over-ageing treatment (T7) is supposed to stabilize the microstructure and the mechanical properties to improve the corrosion resistance. The 2024 alloy microstructure after the T7 heat treatment remains very complex. The 2024 alloy corrosion behavior was studied in the over-ageing state for three different temperatures (150, 175 and 190 °C). During the corrosion tests in chloride-containing environment, the behavior of coarse intermetallic particles was found to be different. Thus, the 2024 samples suffers a gradual attack upon S-Al2CuMg particles and finally Al(Cu,Mn,Fe) particles. The corrosion damage was studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Kelvin probe Force Microscopy (KFM). This technique allows simultaneous topographical and electric potential mapping to be obtained. This latest potential was shown to be correlated to the corrosion potential of the 2024 alloy. This study focuses on the variation of the KFM potential of the coarse intermetallic particles and the matrix for the over-ageing conditions (T7). Observations using optical microscope and AFM were also performed to obtain the corrosion rate for each condition. The corrosion rate was correlated to the chemical composition variation of the particles obtained by scanning electron microscope observations and EDS analyses.