Corrosion behavior of novel AA1050/ZnO surface composite: A potential material for ship hull

Abstract

Friction stir processing is one of the effective surface treatments which was employed to process the AA1050 sheets in bare and reinforced condition. The primary objective of the investigation was to expand the applications of AA1050 as a ship hull element in shipbuilding with the least corrosion rate to withstand the harsh marine environment. The base material processed with a rotational speed of 1200 rpm resulted in the highest corrosion rate of 0.173622 mpy. The formation of Al-Fe intermetallic phases was responsible for pitting corrosion. Further, processing by embedding zinc oxide with a rotational speed of 1000 rpm exhibited ~6.68 times improvement in corrosion resistance compared to as-received material. The corrosion rate was found to be 0.003390 mpy. The Al2O3 passive film hinders the initiation and propagation of pits. This study coins a novel composite material and future investigations are emphasized on the same lines. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.