Effect of α-Al/Al₃Ni microstructure on the corrosion behaviour of Al-5.4 wt% Ni alloy fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing

The effect of microstructure on corrosion behaviour of an Al-5.4 wt% Ni alloy fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) was investigated by means of potentiodynamic polarization test. The Al-5.4 wt% Ni alloy samples were severely deformed by ECAP with two strain introduction methods of route A and route B_C and the ECAP process was repetitively carried out up to 6 passes (strain 6). The anodic polarization measurements indicated that pitting potential of the ECAPed Al-Ni alloy samples in chloride containing neutral buffer solution increased with ECAP passes. The pitting corrosion resistance of Al-Ni alloy after ECAP by route B_C was better than that by route A. It is attributable to that the size of α-Al crystal region was reduced with ECAP passes and route B_C was able to obtain more homogeneous α-Al/Al₃Ni structure than route A. On the other hand, pitting corrosion resistance of pure Al samples showed an obvious declining with increasing ECAP passes. It was indicated that more homogeneous and finer α-Al/Al₃Ni structure obtained by ECAP played a vital role on improving the corrosion resistance of Al-5.4 wt% Ni alloy.