Corrosion properties of laser beam joints of aluminium with zinc-coated steel

This paper presents results of accelerated corrosion tests in a salt spray chamber as well as microelectrochemical measurements of thermally joint steel–aluminium mixed materials. The focus was set on analysing the corrosion behaviour of the different metallic materials (brazed seam, intermetallic phases, aluminium and steel sheet) in or within the vicinity of the brazed seam.Both corrosion tests show that the joining zone has the most negative corrosion potential and is the first to corrode. The degree of corrosive deterioration depends on the cathodic behaviour of the adjacent metal. Next to effective cathodes, such as steel or Fe-containing intermetallics, the attack is the most. However, contact to an aluminium alloy (AA6016) with its insulating oxide layer does not affect the corrosion properties of the respective filler materials.