Corrosion mechanisms of AZ31 magnesium alloy: Importance of starting pH and its evolution

Abstract This article aims at improving the understanding of the corrosion mechanism of AZ31 magnesium alloys during a long period of immersion in an aqueous electrolyte. In particular, the influence of the starting pH of the electrolyte on the oxidation of AZ31 alloy and its evolution due to corrosion phenomena were investigated. Several electrolytes with different pH values containing or not chlorides were used. The electrochemical properties of the metal substrate in these electrolytes were studied as a function of immersion time by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The kinetics of the reactions were determined by potentiodynamic polarization as well as dihydrogen evolution measurements by eudiometry. All these tests were carried out while the sample surface and electrolyte volume remained constant. The corrosion products generated on the alloy surface were analyzed by X‐ray photoelectrons spectrometry. This study has shown that the evolution of the corrosion rate and the corrosion products depends greatly on the initial pH and the nature of the used electrolyte. Alkaline electrolyte leads to a passive protective layer that can be locally destroyed by chloride ions. For a neutral chloride electrolyte, the strong increase of the pH due to the magnesium corrosion is not able to form a protective layer by precipitation of corrosion products. The kinetic and the corrosion extent are affected by the pH changes.