Corrosion Behavior of Al-Cu-Ni-Y Alloys

Al based alloy has been widely used in various industries. This research paper aims at the investigation onto the effect of the percentage of Cu and Ni alloying elements in the corrosion behavior of Al-Cu-Ni alloys. The alloys were characterized by microstructural, physical properties, electrochemical, and phase analysis. Microstructure observation shows the alloys have transformed to dendritic structure. The addition of Ni reveals columnar twinned dendritic to the longitudinal direction of cast ingots. While the addition of Cu increases the density of the sample. The Vickers micro-hardness test shows that sample Al86-Ni5-Cu3-Y6 reached the optimum hardness value 51.36 HV. Tafel Plot performed shows that Al86-Ni5-Cu3-Y6 has the highest Polarization Resistance, Rp, 2 031.82 kΩ and lowest corrosion rate, 0.00380 mm per year. Alloy with high Rp value is highly resistant to corrosion.