Corrosion Behavior of Alumina Reinforced Aluminium (6063) Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract

The influence of alumina volume percent and solution heat-treatment on the corrosion behaviour of Al ( Al (6063) -Al 2 O 3 particulate composites containing 6, 9, 15, and 18 volume percent alumina were produced by adopting two step stir casting. Mass loss and corrosion rate measurements were utilized as criteria for evaluating the corrosion behaviour of the composites. It is observed that Al (6063) -Al 2 O 3 composites exhibited excellent corrosion resistance in NaCl medium than in the NaOH and H 2 SO 4 media. The unreinforced alloy exhibited slightly superior corrosion resistance than the composites in NaCl and NaOH media but the composites had better corrosion resistance in H 2 SO 4 medium. Furthermore, solution heat-treatment resulted in improved corrosion resistance for both the composites and the unreinforced alloy while the effect of volume percent alumina on corrosion resistance did not follow a consistent trend.