Towards corrosion testing of unglazed solar absorber surfaces in simulated acid rain

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization tests were utilized for determining corrosion probabilities of unglazed C/Al2O3/Al solar absorber surfaces in simulated acid rain. Previously, the main degradation mechanism found was exponentially temperature-related hydration of aluminium oxide. In acid rain tests the main corrosion determinant was the pH value of the rain. Results indicate that these methods measure corrosion characteristics of Al substrate instead of the C/Al2O3/Al surface, probably mainly due to the rough and non-uniform microstructure of the latter. Further analyses of the test methods are required in order to estimate their applicability on Al-based uniform sputtered absorber surfaces.