Aluminum Solutions and Testing Methods

The effect of cold-working, i.e. wire drawing, on the corrosion behavior of a 6101 and a 1370 aluminum alloy was investigated in NaCl solutions. For the both alloys, a “grain size - corrosion resistance” was highlighted. The preliminary works performed on Al-Cu welds showed two scales of heterogeneity and two scales of heterogeneity of media which are not considered by the current automotive specifications. Consequently, it seems to be necessary to establish new pertinent specifications to evaluate the new Al solutions.