Corrosion behavior of Al6061 alloy weldment produced by friction stir welding process

In this work, the corrosion behavior of welded lap joints of AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy produced by friction stir welding process has been investigated. Corrosion properties of welded lap joints were studied by cyclic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests. All tests were performed in an aerated 0.6 mol L−1 NaCl aqueous solution with pH = 6.5 at a temperature of 30 °C to characterize corrosion morphology and realize corrosion features of weld regions as opposed to the parent alloy. The microstructure of weld nugget (WN), heated affected zone (HAZ), and parent alloy were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The experimental results indicated that the welding process has a major effect on the corrosion resistance, which possibly associated to the break-down and dissolution of intermetallic particles. It is supposed that an increasing in intermetallic distributed throughout the matrix of weld regions increases the galvanic corrosion couples. Furthermore, by decreasing the grain size in the weld regions, the susceptibility to corrosion is enhanced. The pitting corrosion and intergranular attack are the dominant corrosion types in the weld regions and the parent alloy.