Influence of heat treatment and surface conditioning on filiform corrosion of aluminium alloys AA3005 and AA5754

The effect of high-temperature heat treatment combined with different cleaning and pre-treatment practices on filiform corrosion resistance has been investigated for aluminium alloys AA3005 and AA5754. High-temperature heat treatment severely reduces the filiform corrosion resistance of alloy AA3005, while the corrosion properties of alloy 5754 are only moderately affected. The drastic loss of filiform corrosion resistance of alloy AA3005 after high-temperature heat treatment is attributed to preferential microstructural changes in a heavily deformed, micrograined surface layer caused by large surface shear strain during rolling. The enhanced deformation of the near-surface region promotes precipitation of a fine dispersion of intermetallic particles during subsequent heat treatment. The higher density of intermetallic particles combined with lower supersaturated solid solution levels of manganese in the surface layer as compared to the bulk structure makes the heat-treated AA3005 material susceptible to superficial corrosion attacks and results in poor filiform corrosion resistance. Application of a commercial acid cleaning/chromating pre-treatment did not restore the filiform corrosion resistance of heat-treated alloy AA3005. Alloy AA5754, containing lower levels of manganese and iron than AA3005, did not undergo similar preferential microstructural changes during heat treatment. A moderate increase in the amount of filiform corrosion of heat-treated AA5754 samples is attributed to poor protective properties of the thick, magnesium enriched, thermally formed surface oxide on this alloy. Any cleaning/pre-treatment practice that removes the thermally formed oxide on this alloy results in a very high filiform corrosion resistance.