Corrosion behavior of aluminum in 1 M HCl solution

Abstract

The corrosion behavior of pure (99.999) aluminum in 1 M HCl solution is studied. The regularities of local gas evolution on the surface of test specimen at the open-circuit potential are determined. A number of sites, where hydrogen gas evolves, varies with the time passing through a maximum. The sizes of bubbles prior to their detachment from the specimen surface are determined. The time dependences of gas bubble radius in the course of the bubble growth are obtained. From the experimental results, it is concluded that, at the sites of hydrogen gas evolution, the cathodic reaction prevails, whereas the anodic reaction (aluminum etching) proceeds at the rest specimen surface area. No pits form at the sites of hydrogen evolution during the experiments (up to 5 h). The quantitative analysis of the cathodic polarization curve enabled us to estimate the rate (the corrosion current density) of almost general corrosion after the decay of local gas evolution. The long-term experiments (for 2 months) showed that the pitting corrosion of pure aluminum takes place in 1 M HCl.