Stress corrosion behavior of 2195-T8 Al-Li alloy with an artificial pit exposed to a 30vol% HNO₃ solution

This paper experimentally studied the stress corrosion behavior of 2195-T8 Al-Li alloys with prefabricated pits in 30vol% HNO₃. The microstructure was observed and determined by the scanning electron microscopy and the transmission electron microscopy. The typical corrosion features, i.e., regular or irregular corrosion pits and sub/intergranular corrosion, were investigated, and the role of stress were analyzed. The statistical results of the number and area of corrosion pits in various sizes were studied using an improved image processing method. Experimental results demonstrate that stress affects the intergranular corrosion or sub-intergranular corrosion of the alloy most, and promotes them to evolve into cracks under stress corrosion. Stress also plays a role in accelerating corrosion severity of certain corrosion feature. The number of corrosion pits with an area of 0–50 μm² can be seen as an index to reflect the degree of corrosion. Besides, a corrosion phenomenon, i.e., the pit bottom in the site with the maximum stress locally suffering from no severe corrosion, was observed and discussed.