Corrosive wear behavior of 2014 and 6061 aluminum alloy composites

Alloys of 2014 and 6061 aluminum reinforced with 0.1 volume fraction of alumina particles (VFAP) were subjected to impact scratching during a corrosive wear process. The transient currents generated due to the impact were measured in the two composites as well as in their respective monoliths. The effect of solutionizing time on the transient currents was correlated to the near surface microstructures, scratch morphology, concentration of quenched-in vacancies, and changes in grain sizes. It was observed that the transient current values increase with an increase in solutionizing time, indicating that the corrosive wear behavior is not strongly affected by the grain boundaries. However, a combination of pitting and the galvanic corrosion may account for the typical corrosive wear behavior exhibited by the alloys and the composites of this study.