Influence of temperature on sea water immersion corrosion of aluminium (UNS A95086)

The present paper describes an interpretation of the variation in material loss of aluminium specimens in sea water immersion at 14 different locations worldwide. Careful examination of the conditions under which aluminium corrodes in very low velocity sea water suggests that the only significant variables are temperature and aeration. This allows the field observations obtained as part of an ASTM sponsored worldwide ‘round robin’ test programme to be viewed largely as a function of temperature. It is found that corrosion tends to be generally low except at temperatures around about 10°C and in the region 20–27°C with a local peak at around 23°C. This pattern applies for all exposures to 5 years.