Simultaneous mapping of nanoscale topography and surface potential for the study of localized corrosion in 2024-T3 aluminum alloy and corrosion resistance introduced by a superhydrophobic coating

Abstract

The localized corrosion phenomenon on 2024-T3 aluminum alloy is studied at nanoscale using simultaneous mapping of topography and surface potential by atomic force microscope in this work. The corrosion resistance imparted by a superhydrophobic coating is also studied using the same procedure for comparison. The results from simultaneous mappings revealed that the surface potential images obtained from SKPM images are capable of predicting the probable sites for the initiation of localized corrosion in the case of bare aluminum alloy substrate. The corrosion parameters for both substrates were quantified by potentiodynamic polarization.