Activation of aluminium alloy sacrificial anodes by selenium

Abstract

Several studies have focussed on alloying and structural modifications of aluminium alloy sacrificial anodes using different activators. The present work explores the feasibility of effective aluminium activation by selenium incorporation. The electrochemical performance of these anodes is evaluated by galvanic and galvanostatic polarization, OCP and CCP measurements etc. The selenium incorporated anode showed improved galvanic efficiency of around 70%. High performed anodes were developed by incorporating other activators of Sn and Bi along with Se in aluminium alloy anodes. The best activator combination was found to be 0.5%Se + 0.1%Sn + 0.1%Bi. This combination of activator in aluminium alloy anodes shows a galvanic efficiency of 90%.