In this paper, we will study the corrosion

resistance of aluminum after adding it a few

additions of copper
At the outset, we should learn to aluminum and
copper up close and learn about their
characteristics and also identify the corrosion and
what we mean by it.

Aluminium
General Characteristics of Aluminium
Is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic
number 13. It is a silvery white, soft, ductile metal. Aluminium is the third
most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant
metal in the Earth's crust. It makes up about 8% by weight of the Earths
solid surface. Aluminium metal is so chemically
reactive that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing
environments. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different minerals.
.[11] The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite
Aluminium is remarkable for the metals low density and for its ability to
resist corrosion due to the phenomenon of passivation. Structural
components made from aluminium and its alloys are vital to the aerospace
industry and are important in other areas of transportation and
structural materials. The most useful compounds of aluminium, at least on a
.weight basis, are the oxides and sulfates [12]

Copper
:General Characteristics of Copper
Copper has chemical element with symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic
.number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity
Pure copper is soft and malleable; a freshly exposed surface has a reddish-orange
color. It is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, a building material, and a
constituent of various metal alloys. The metal and its alloys have been used for
thousands of years. In the Roman era, copper was principally mined on Cyprus,
hence the origin of the name of the metal as yprium (metal of Cyprus), later
.shortened to uprum
Its compounds are commonly encountered as copper(II) salts, which often impart
blue or green colors to minerals such as azurite and turquoise and have been widely
used historically as pigments. Architectural structures built with copper corrode to give
green verdigris (or patina). Decorative art prominently features copper, both by itself
and as part of pigments. Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary
mineral because it is a key constituent of the respiratory enzyme complex cytochrome
c oxidase. In molluscs and crustacea copper is a constituent of the blood pigment
hemocyanin, which is replaced by the iron-complexed hemoglobin in fish and other
vertebrates. The main areas where copper is found in humans are
liver, muscle and bone[51] . Copper compounds are used as bacteriostatic
.substances, fungicides, and wood preservatives

Corrosion
has 2 senses: CORROSION
a state of deterioration in metals caused by -1 .
oxidation or chemical action
erosion by chemical action -2 .
The breaking down or destruction of a material,
especially a metal, through chemical reactions.
The most common form of corrosion is rusting,
which occurs when iron combines with oxygen
. and water

Corrosion comes in many different forms and can be classified by the

cause of the chemical deterioration of a metal. Listed below are 10
common types of corrosion:
. 1 General Attack Corrosion
Also known as uniform attack corrosion, general attack corrosion is
the most common type of corrosion and is caused by a chemical or
electrochemical reaction that results in the deterioration of the entire
exposed surface of a metal. Ultimately, the metal deteriorates to the
point of failure.
General attack corrosion accounts for the greatest amount of metal
destruction by corrosion, but is considered as a safe form of
corrosion, due to the fact that it is predictable, manageable and
often preventable.

 .2 Localized Corrosion
Unlike general attack corrosion, localized corrosion specifically
targets one area of the metal structure. Localized corrosion is
classified as one of three types:
Pitting: Pitting results when a small hole, or cavity, forms in the
metal, usually as a result of de-passivation of a small area. This
area becomes anodic, while part of the remaining metal
becomes cathodic, producing a localized galvanic reaction. The
deterioration of this small area penetrates the metal and can
lead to failure. This form of corrosion is often difficult to detect
due to the fact that it is usually relatively small and may be
covered and hidden by corrosion-produced compounds

 Crevice corrosion: Similar to pitting, crevice corrosion

occurs at a specific location. This type of corrosion is
often associated with a stagnant micro-environment,
like those found under gaskets and washers and
clamps. Acidic conditions, or a depletion of oxygen in
a crevice can lead to crevice corrosion.
Filiform corrosion: Occurring under painted or plated
surfaces when water breaches the coating, filiform
corrosion begins at small defects in the coating and
spreads to cause structural weakness.

 . 3 Galvanic Corrosion:
Galvanic corrosion, or dissimiliar metal
corrosion, occurs when two different metals are
located together in a corrosive electrolyte. A
galvanic couple forms between the two metals,
where one metal becomes the anode and the
other the cathode. The anode, or sacrificial
metal, corrodes and deteriorates faster than it
would alone, while the cathode deteriorates
more slowly than it would otherwise.
Three conditions must exist for galvanic
corrosion to occur:

 Electrochemically dissimilar metals must

be present
The metals must be in electrical contact,
and
The metals must be exposed to an
electrolyte

 . 4 Environmental Cracking:
Environmental cracking is a corrosion process that
can result from a combination of environmental
conditions affecting the metal. Chemical, temperature
and stress-related conditions can result in the
following types of environmental corrosion:
Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC)
Corrosion fatigue
Hydrogen-induced cracking
Liquid metal embrittlement

 . 5 Flow-Assisted Corrosion (FAC):

Flow-assisted corrosion, or flow-accelerated
corrosion, results when a protective layer of
oxide on a metal surface is dissolved or
removed by wind or water, exposing the
underlying metal to further corrode and
deteriorate.
Erosion-assisted corrosion
Impingement
Cavitation

 . 7 Intergranular corrosion
Intergranular corrosion is a chemical or
electrochemical attack on the grain
boundaries of a metal. This often occurs due
to impurities in the metal, which tend to be
present in higher contents near grain
boundaries. These boundaries can be more
vulnerable to corrosion than the bulk of the
metal.

 . 8 De-Alloying:
De-alloying, or selective leaching, is the
selective corrosion of a specific element in
an alloy. The most common type of dealloying is de-zincification of unstabilized
brass. The result of corrosion in such
cases is a deteriorated and porous copper

 . 9 Fretting corrosion:
Fretting corrosion occurs as a result of
repeated wearing, weight and/or vibration
on an uneven, rough surface. Corrosion,
resulting in pits and grooves, occurs on the
surface. Fretting corrosion is often found in
rotation and impact machinery, bolted
assemblies and bearings, as well as to
surfaces exposed to vibration during
transportation

 . 10 High-Temperature Corrosion:
Fuels used in gas turbines, diesel engines and
other machinery, which contain vanadium or
sulfates can, during combustion, form
compounds with a low melting point. These
compounds are very corrosive towards metal
alloys normally resistant to high temperatures
and corrosion, including stainless steel.
High temperature corrosion can also be caused
by high temperature oxidization, sulfidation and
carbonization.


Definition of Corrosion- 1.1
Corrosion may be defined as a destructive phenomena, chemical or
electrochemical, which can attack any metal or alloy through
reaction by the surrounding environment and in extreme cases may
cause structural failure. Corrosion can be also defined as the
deterioration of material by reaction to its environment. The
corrosion occurs because of the natural tendency for most metals to
return to their natural state; e.g., iron in the presence of moist air will
revert to its natural state, iron oxide. Metals can be corroded by the
direct reaction of the metal to a chemical; e.g., zinc will react with
. dilute sulfuric acid, and magnesium will react with alcohols

Types of Corrosion

Corrosion does not only occur as linear

abrasion, but in versatile forms of
.appearance
According to DIN EN ISO 8044, important
variants for unalloyed or alloyed
:steel are

Uniform surface corrosion-1

General corrosion occurring on the entire surface at
nearly the same
.rate
Shallow pit corrosion- 2
Corrosion with locally different abrasion rates; caused by
the existence of corrosion
.elements
Pitting corrosion- 3
Local corrosion resulting in holes, that is, in cavities
expanding from the
.surface to the inside of the metal

Crevice corrosion-4
Local corrosion in connection with crevices occurring in or
immediately adjacent
to the crevice area, which has developed between the metal surface
and
.another surface (metal or nonmetal)
Contact corrosion (aka dissimilar metal corrosion)- 5
Occurs at contact surfaces of different metals; the acceleratedly
corroding metal
.area is the anode of the corrosion element
Intergranular corrosion- 6
.Corrosion in or adjacent to the grain boundaries of a metal
The standard mentioned above describes altogether 37 types of
corrosion. These
.types of corrosion result in corrosion phenomena

Experimental part
Casting materials
Different samples of AL-Cu Alloys,were used in
this work.The base material used throughout this
work was the commercial pure Aluminum of
99.9%wt Al,pure copper with 99,9% purity was
used as an alloying element, which have melting
point temperature (1083C) and density of
(8.2g/cm^2) at (20C) six alloys with different
weight percentage copper were prepared,
.i.e.1,2,3,4.5 and 6%wt Cu

Equipment and Experimental

The following machines and equipments
:were used
a.Sensitive balance device three digits
b. Electrical furnace
c. Digital camera
d. Micro structure tester

Manufacturing Alloys by Casting

The Aluminum Copper Metals Have (99.9%)
purity.The Manufacturing of Sample was by
:Gravity Casting Procedure
Weighing the alloying elements by using)1
.sensitive balance with accuracy (0.001mg)
Using an electrical furnace,the melting)2
procedure was firstly performed by melting
aluminum, using graphite crucible which was
preheated in the furnace then the addition of
copper element was carried out at (750c)

During the addition of copper to the molten)3

aluminum manual stirring with graphite rod with
diameter (2.5cm) was applied carefully to avoid
.producing too much dross
Pouring the molten alloys to a steel mould ) 4
shown ,in fig (6), and the steel casting mold
dimension is shown in figure (7), then leaving
the casting to cool to the room temperature and
using a digital camera to record the temperature
readings,because of difficulty of recording the
.temperature drop in the start of casting alloys

Six casting of aluminum-copper were ) 5

manufactured with different addition.the
preliminary chemical composition is given
in table (1)

Corrosion media
After prepare the specimens marked to
recognize one from another with putting
cables with different colors
To media used to corrosion test in this
work
Acidic media : sex sample with different- 1
percentages of copper were imerrsion in
(H2SO4) media with PH=2 by dilute it with
distilled water

BASICAL MEDIA: sex sample with- 2

different percentages of copper were
imerrsion in (NAOH) media with PH=12 by
dilute it with distilled water

PROCEDURE OF CORROSION
TEST
A- specification of the device parts the
following device which is shown below
was used to test the corrosion rate of the
samples which were used in this work

:for acidic test- 1

b-mechanisim of the device working
We put(PH) meter in the solution which is
contained from concentrated (H2SO4) and
distilled water until the (PH) meter reads or
.reaches equal to 2,continously stirred
:for basic test- 2
We put(PH) meter in the solution which is
contained from concentrated (NAOH) and
distilled water until the (PH) meter reads or
.reaches equal to 12,continously stirred

After the above steps we setting the

device as shwon the diagram of fig. below

:The following steps were followed to taking data

we put the sample in the beaker which contain either- 1
acidic or basic media
the calomel must put in the burette with putting the - 2
same solution due to the corrosion test case
the space between the sample and the nozzle of the - 3
calomel must be not increase from (2mm) to neglate the
resistance of the solution, be the reading of the
resistance just of the sample
after the setting all things we starting the device by - 4
power supply and setting ameter and voltmeter and
taking the data

the specimens (1-2)

Voltage

Current

time

Voltage

Current

time

2
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.5
0.35
0.35
0.4
0.3
0.35
0.35
0.4
0.35
0.4
0.4
0.4

1.5
1.5
1.3
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.3
1.3
1.3
1.3
1.3
1.3

min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

0.4
0.35
0.45
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.5
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.35
0.35
0.4
0.35
0.4

0.4
0.5
0.6
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.7
0.7

min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

the specimens(3-4)
Voltage

Current

time

Voltage

Current

time

4
0.35
0.3
0.3
0.35
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3

0.5
0.5
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.6

min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

0.35
0.3
0.35
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.35
0.3
0.35
0.35
0.4
0.3
0.35
0.3
0.3

0.4
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7

min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

the specimens(5-6)
Voltage

Current

time

Voltage

Current

time

6
0.4
0.35
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.1
0.4
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.4
0.45
0.5

0.5
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7

min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.35
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.45
0.4
0.4
0.45
0.45
0.3

0.5
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.6
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7

min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

voltage

Current

0.4
0.4
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.3
0.35
0.35
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.45
0.6
0.4

0.6
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4

time
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

voltage

Current

0.3
0.35
0.35
0.3
0.3
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.35

0.7
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.5

time
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

voltage

Current

0.3
0.3
0.35
0.3
0.3
0.35
0.3
0.35
0.35
0.3
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.3

0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7

time
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

voltage

Current

0.35
0.35
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4

0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.8
0.7

time
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

voltage

Current

0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.45
0.35
0.45
0.4
0.4

0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.6
0.7
0.6
0.7
0.7

time
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2

voltage

Current

0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.4
0.4
0.4

0.7
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.8
0.7

time
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2
min 2