A new insight to regulate microstructure and enhance corrosion resistance of the Al-Mg-Si alloy by TCB seed alloy

[Display omitted] •A new insight for designing Al-Mg-Si alloy by using TCB seed alloy was proposed.•The Al-Mg-Si alloy with high pitting, intergranular and exfoliation corrosion resistance was obtained.•The improvement mechanisms of pitting and intergranular corrosion were revealed. This study proposed a new insight to design the microstructure, improve the corrosion processes and ameliorate the corrosion resistance of Al-Mg-Si alloy through TCB seed alloy. The studied alloys were devised with great resistance to pitting corrosion by achieving the AlMnFeSi phase with smaller size and disperse distribution, the finer grain structure as well as higher density and more evenly aging precipitates. Taking the 6061-1TCB sample immersed for 72 h in the 3.5 % NaCl aqueous solution as an example, the depth of corrosion pits decreases from 20 μm to 4 μm as well as the percentage of pitting corrosion decreases from 6.6 % to 2.1 % compared with the 6061 alloy. The great intergranular resistance can be obtained by the more tortuous grain boundaries and higher percentage of low angle grain boundaries. Taking the 6061-1TCB sample as an example, the deepest position of intergranular corrosion decreases from 728 μm to 505 μm as well as the area percentage of detached grains decreases from 65 % to 22 % compared with the 6061 alloy. Based on the enhancement of pitting and intergranular corrosion resistance with TCB seed alloy, EXCO degree can also be improved from EA to PC level.