Electrochemical and Economic Analysis of No-Rinse, “True-Cr-Free” Surface Conversion Coatings for a Green, Cost-Saving, Corrosion Protection of 8079 Aluminium Alloy

Increasing the corrosion resistance of aluminium alloys using surface treatments while reducing the processes’ environmental impact and saving natural resources has become an urgent need. Some companies that typically use pollutant substances in their process lines have started to test low-environmental-impact products. This paper shows the results obtained using two commercial products for the conversion coating of AA8079 rolled-samples: the first, rinse, containing CrIII (the so-called “Cr-free” products), the second one, no-rinse, utterly free of Cr, based on hexafluorotitanate and dihydrogen hexafluorozirconate. The bare conversion-coated, and organic-coating-covered samples were compared with each other, evaluating their corrosion resistance when immersed in NaCl 3.5 wt.% aqueous solution. The experimental results showed that the completely Cr-free no-rinse conversion coatings demonstrate performance comparable to that of the so-called “Cr-free”. In addition, a comparison of the amount of water used in the “rinse” and the “no-rinse” industrial process is reported. Finally, an estimation of the economic balance for the process is presented, considering the waste reduction to be disposed of and the water quantity used. The aim of this paper was to demonstrate that some commercial conversion-coating products, completely free of Cr and no-rinse, are available nowadays, showing good protective properties and low environmental-impact, while guaranteeing an economic saving which is not negligible.