Effect of unequal levels of deformation and fragmentation on the electrochemical response of friction stir welded AA2024-T3 alloy

Abstract

The effect of unequal levels of deformation and fragmentation on the electrochemical response of friction stir welded AA2024-T3 has been investigated using electron backscatter diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, global and localized electrochemical techniques. The friction stir welding process introduced unequal distribution and fragmentation of coarse intermetallic particles, such that more clusters of these particles were present in the thermomechanically affected zone of the weld. This resulted in a higher susceptibility to severe localized corrosion in this region when compared with the others. Results from electrochemical measurements using a microcell could not be clearly correlated with the corrosion behaviour because no significant differences were observed using these techniques. On the other hand, LEIS and SVET results were in agreement and correlated with the corrosion evolution at the surfaces of the tested samples.