Potentiostatic corrosion protection technology under cavitation condition for 5083-H116 Al alloy

This study aims to characterize the cavitation damage behavior of aluminum alloys in seawater and thus to enhance its cavitation resistance. Potentiostatic experiments were performed under various potential conditions to determine the optimum protection potentials, at which cavitation damage was suppressed. A potential range was selected for the experiment from −2.2 to −1.4 V, which corresponded to the concentration and activation polarization regions on the cathodic polarization curve of the 5083-H116 alloy. After the experiments, the current density-time behavior was investigated, and the degree of surface damage was observed using three-dimensional microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optimum protection potential was determined to be in the range of −1.9 to −1.5 V under which the cavitation damage was reduced significantly.