Corrosion Behavior of NickelAlloy(ASTM A 494 M) Reinforced with Fused SiO2Chilled Metal Matrix Composites(MMCs) for Marine Applications

This paper presents the results obtained and the discussions made from a series of corrosion experiments involving Nickel alloy (ASTM A 494 M) reinforced with fused SiO2, size of the particles dispersed varies from 80-120 mu m and amount of addition varies from 3 to 12 wt.% in steps of 3 wt.%. The resulting chilled MMCs are solidified under the influence of copper chill of 25 mm thickness to study the effect of corrosion behavior. Corrosion resistance was found to increase significantly with increase in SiO2 content in chilled MMCs. Nevertheless, even with high Si02 content corrosion attack ie., pitting was found to be most severe during the initial stages of each test but it invariably decreased to a very low value in the later stages, due to the formation of an adherent protective layer on the MMCs developed.