This review provided some recent progress of the research on corrosion mechanisms of magnesium and its alloys and a basis for follow-on research. Galvanic corrosion, pitting corrosion, intergranular corrosion (IGC), filiform corrosion, crevice corrosion, stress corrosion cracking (SCC), and corrosion fatigue (CF) were discussed. The influence of metallurgical factors such as alloying elements, microstructure and secondary phases, processing factors such as heat treatment and weld, and environmental factors including temperature, relative humidity, solution pH values and concentration on corrosion were discussed. In particular, a mechanism of pitting corrosion caused by AlMn particles was proposed. The corrosion properties of AZ91D weld material were investigated.
Potentiodynamic electrochemical technique was utilized to study the corrosion behavior of magnesium alloys in simulated body fluids(SBFs). The influence of materials,solutions and their temperature on corrosion rate was mainly discussed. The results demonstrate that the free corrosion potential(Ecorr) of AZ31 and AZ91 alloys rises rapidly at initial stage,and then stabilizes at some value. Ecorr of WE43 alloy increases continuously. While Ecorr of AZ91 alloy with macro-arc oxidation(MAO) coating decreases drastically in 3 min,and then fluctuates between -1 607 mV and -1 503 mV. The WE43 alloy has better corrosion resistance in Hank's solution,compared with AZ31 and AZ91 alloys. Corrosion rates of the alloys are sensitive to the chemical composition and temperature of SBFs. A thin MgF2 film slightly improves corrosion resistance. An MAO coating on AZ91 alloy significantly reduces corrosion rate and enhances Ecorr. Pitting corrosion occurs on both AZ31 and WE43 alloys in Hank's solution.
Corrosion of magnesium alloys is an important issue for their applications in automobile and aerospace industry. pH values as a function of time in two types of simulated occluded corrosion cells(OCC) for magnesium alloys AZ80 and AM60 were measured. The influence of mass ratio of solution to material or liquid to solid ratio(L/S ratio),initial pH value and chemical compositions of solutions on pH value in OCC was discussed. The experimental results show that pH value for magnesium alloys increases gradually or rapidly in Occ,depending on L/S ratio,initial pH value of solution and chloride ions concentration etc,and then reaches up to 10.5-10.6 and finally stabilizes at the level. The onset in the pH value time curve corresponds to the precipitate of magnesium hydroxide according to the theoretical calculation.
