Influence of surface roughness on the corrosion behaviour of magnesium alloy

In this study, the influence of surface roughness on the passivation and pitting corrosion behaviour of AZ91 magnesium alloy in chloride-containing environment was examined using electrochemical techniques. Potentiodynamic polarisation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests suggested that the passivation behaviour of the alloy was affected by increasing the surface roughness. Consequently, the corrosion current and the pitting tendency of the alloy also increased with increase in the surface roughness. Scanning electron micrographs of 24 h immersion test samples clearly revealed pitting corrosion in the highest surface roughness (Sa 430) alloy, whereas in the lowest surface roughness (Sa 80) alloy no evidence of pitting corrosion was observed. Interestingly, when the passivity of the alloy was disturbed by galvanostatically holding the sample at anodic current for 1 h, the alloy underwent high pitting corrosion irrespective of their surface roughness. Thus the study suggests that the surface roughness plays a critical role in the passivation behaviour of the alloy and hence the pitting tendency.