Corrosion Behavior of High Pressure Die Cast Al-Ni and Al-Ni-Ca Alloys in 3.5% NaCl Solution

In this investigation corrosion behavior of newly developed high-pressure die cast Al-Ni (N15) and Al-Ni-Ca (NX1503) alloys was studied in 3.5% NaCl solution. The electrochemical corrosion behavior was evaluated using open circuit potential (OCP) measurement, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. Potentiodynamic polarization results validated that NX1503 alloy exhibited lower corrosion current density (icorr) value (5.969 μA/cm2) compared to N15 (7.387 μA/cm2). EIS-Bode plots revealed a higher impedance (|Z|) value and maximum phase angle value for NX1503 than N15 alloy. Equivalent circuit curve fitting analysis revealed that surface layer (R1) and charge transfer resistance (Rct) values of NX1503 alloy was higher compared to N15 alloy. Immersion corrosion studies were also conducted for alloys using fishing line specimen arrangement to simultaneously measure corrosion rates from weight loss (PW) and hydrogen volume (PH) after 72 hours and NX1503 alloy had lower corrosion rate compared to N15 alloy. The addition of Ca to N15 alloy significantly reduced the Al3Ni intermetallic phase and further grain refinement may be attributed for reduction in the corrosion rate.