Effect of α-Al/Al3Ni microstructure on the corrosion behaviour of Al–5.4 wt% Ni alloy fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing

The effect of microstructure on corrosion behaviour of an Al–5.4 wt% Ni alloy fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) was investigated by means of potentiodynamic polarization test. The Al–5.4 wt% Ni alloy samples were severely deformed by ECAP with two strain introduction methods of route A and route BC and the ECAP process was repetitively carried out up to 6 passes (strain 6). The anodic polarization measurements indicated that pitting potential of the ECAPed Al–Ni alloy samples in chloride containing neutral buffer solution increased with ECAP passes. The pitting corrosion resistance of Al–Ni alloy after ECAP by route BC was better than that by route A. It is attributable to that the size of α-Al crystal region was reduced with ECAP passes and route BC was able to obtain more homogeneous α-Al/Al3Ni structure than route A. On the other hand, pitting corrosion resistance of pure Al samples showed an obvious declining with increasing ECAP passes. It was indicated that more homogeneous and finer α-Al/Al3Ni structure obtained by ECAP played a vital role on improving the corrosion resistance of Al–5.4 wt% Ni alloy.