Study of Corrosion Pit Propagation in Aluminum by Numerical Simulation using the Finite Element Method

Pitting corrosion is a localized form of corrosion that can restrict the lifetime of a metal. Studying the pitting corrosion is required to predict and prevent the risk of damage of metals susceptible to corrosion. This paper presents a finite element numerical simulation of the pit growth by illustrating the impact of hydrochloric acid concentration and the influence of the pit radius. The obtained results illustrate that the pit propagation in a chloride environment is significantly impacted by the chloride concentration and the radius of the pits. Furthermore, these results are discussed in comparison with those published in the literature.