Effect of Film Formation Potential on Passive Behavior of Ultra-Fine-Grained 1050 Al Alloy Fabricated via ARB Process

In this work, the effect of film formation potential on the passive behavior of ultra-fine-grained 1050 Al alloy in a borate buffer solution is investigated. For this purpose, the specimens were fabricated via accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process up to 1, 3, 5, and 7 passes. To determine the evolution of microstructure as a function of ARB process, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used. AFM images revealed that the grain size values decreased as the number of ARB passes increased. Moreover, TEM micrograph showed that mean grain size of the sample reached to about 340 nm after applying 7 passes of ARB. Potentiodynamic polarization plots indicated that, as the number of ARB passes increased, the corrosion and passive current densities decreased. Also, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements showed that at selected applied potential above open circuit potential, the corrosion resistance of the 1050 Al alloy was systematically increased by applying further ARB passes. It was found that passive behavior of the ARBed 1050 Al alloy specimens were improved by reducing the grain size.