Influence of the composition and processing conditions on the corrosion resistance of aluminium-based composite materials

This work tries to analyze the corrosiou behavior of a serie of composite materials, as well as to study the influence of the reinforcement and milling technique on the unreinforced base alloy corrosion resistance. For this purpose composite materials, base 6061 aluminum alloy and reinforced with Si3N4, ZrB2 and AlN (5% wt.) have been manufactured, by means of both low and high energy milling techniques for the blending step. The study is mainly focused on the evolution of the corrosion potential versus time, pitting potential as well as the pasive zone of each material by means of continuous current electrochemical techniques. The most significant results reveal the influence of the reinforcement as well as the employment of different blending techniques, both on the corrosion and pitting potential.