ON THE HYDROGEN EVOLUTION MECHANISM DURING CORROSION OF THE 2198-T8 ALLOY IN CHLORIDE SOLUTION: AN ELECTROCHEMICAL APPROACH

Corrosion is still one of the most serious and frequent problems in industries. The phenomena involved in the corrosion mechanism of Al-alloys may be explained by formation of galvanic cells between the metal matrix and heterogeneities, such as precipitates, intermetallic phases leading to potential differences and electrochemical reactions. In the cathodic sites, the main reactions are oxygen reduction reaction, in aerated neutral environments, and hydrogen evolution in acid media. This last type of reaction might also occur in neutral solutions inside pits (anodic region). In this study, the mechanism of hydrogen evolution during corrosion of the 2198-T8 Al-Cu-Li alloy exposed in a chloride solution was investigated. The mechanism was related to the presence of T1 phase (Al2CuLi), which is the main strengthening phase in this material. This phase is highly active and, when exposed to corrosive media, leads to severe localized corrosion (SLC). One of the main characteristics related to SLC is hydrogen gas evolution which was confirmed by gel visualization. In this study, the hydrogen evolution mechanism inside the SLC sites was studied by scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM).