Examination of Galvanic Action between Fe-Based Bulk Metallic Glass and Crystalline Alloys

Fe-based bulk metallic glasses (amorphous metals) have been developed, and several compositions are shown to have excellent corrosion resistance in chloride solutions. Further, thermal-spray amorphous metals are being developed for use as a barrier coating layer, to protect substrate materials from corrosion. Galvanic action between dissimilar metals and the coating/substrate for the amorphous-alloy coatings is of practical interest for a number of applications. The mixed-potential theory provides a useful approach for examining the corrosion behavior of the component materials in the galvanic couple and is applied in this study. Galvanic action was studied for an Fe-based structurally amorphous metal (SAM) 1651 and several crystalline alloys that included 1018 C-steel, stainless steel (SS) 316L, and alloy 22. Anodic and cathodic polarization curves of each of the metals were measured by potentiodynamic polarization. Based on the mixed-potential theory, the behavior of the component materials in a galvanic cell was predicted. The predictions are compared to the measured behavior of galvanic couples with the crystalline alloys.