Corrosion Inhibition of SiC_p/5A06 Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite by Cerium Conversion Treatment

This article studies the effects of the CeCl₃ concentrations in conversion solutions with and without addition of NaCl, pH-values of conversion solution, drying temperature, time and temperature of immersion on the Ce-conversion coatings for corrosion protection of the SiC_p/5A06 Al-MMC and 5A06 Al-alloy in the 3.5% NaCl aqueous solution at room temperature. Potentiodynamic polarization tests reveal that the Ce-conversion treatment could markedly improve the pitting corrosion resistance of the composite and the matrix alloy in chloride containing environment. The best corrosion resistance effects are obtained for the samples treatment in 1‰ CeCl₃·7H₂O/ 3.5% NaCl solution at 45 °C for 60 min, followed by drying at 100 °C for 30 min. Examinations by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicate that this behavior is due to the precipitation of Ce-oxides/hydroxides on the cathodic intermetallics and the Al-oxide film on the rest of the metal matrix.