Effect of postreatment on the corrosion behaviour of tartaric–sulphuric anodic films

Unclad and clad AA2024 T3 specimens were anodised in a chromium-free tartaric–sulphuric acid bath (TSA) and subsequently postreated by different processes including impregnation in a cold, concentrated chromate solution, Cr-free hot-water sealing, and dichromate hot-water sealing. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of the classical postreatments used in the aircraft industry on the TSA-anodic films and their corrosion resistance behaviour. TSA-anodic films were characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and their thicknesses were measured by SEM and the eddy current method. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to characterise the barrier and porous layers, and jointly with potentiodynamic polarisation allowed the evaluation of corrosion resistance parameters with immersion time in NaCl solution for anodised and postreated specimens. In all cases the postreatments increased the resistance of the barrier layer against degradation. However, the NaCl electrolyte easily penetrated TSA-anodised porous layers when they were not postreated, while penetration was slightly more difficult in cold-postreated specimens. The effective pore plugging was observed in the sealed TSA specimens resulting in an improved corrosion resistance. On the other hand, unsealed clad AA2024 specimens showed a self-sealing process of the TSA-anodic layer, which was slower for the cold chromate solution-postreated specimens.