AA2024 are high strength Al alloys widely used in the aerospace industry due to their excellent strength to weight ratio. However, their high susceptibility to localised corrosion, caused by the presence of intermetallic particles embedded in the Al matrix, requires the use of chromate-based surface treatment formulations1. Several alternatives have been explored in the last decades, such as vanadates, chromium (III) based conversion coatings, rare-earth inhibitors or more recently, lithium containing conversion coatings2. However, these alternatives are often not versatile (cannot be transposed to all alloy systems) or are not as cost effective as chromates. Ionic liquids (ILs), usually defined as salts with a melting point below 100°C, can be considered as promising corrosion inhibitors due to their low vapour pressure, chemical and thermal stability3. In addition, they can exhibit versatile inhibition properties associated with the quasi-infinite possible anion-cation combinations3–5. In previous work, the effect of an alkylammonium nitrate IL family, namely ethylammonium nitrate (EAN), propylammonium nitrate (PAN), and butylammonium nitrate (BAN) as potential corrosion inhibitors for an AA2024-T6 Al alloy was investigated6. Electrochemical tests such as potentiodynamic polarisation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were performed to identify the effect of the anion and cation on the anodic and cathodic kinetics. Herein, surface analysis was performed to rationalise the electrochemical results, particularly on the reactivity of NO3 - and R-NH3 + on the Cu-rich intermetallic particles. To this end, electrospray ionisation of EAN, BAN and NaNO3 was realised on Cu. The effect of the IL concentration and cation chain length, using PM-IRRAS (polarisation modulation -infrared reflection adsorption spectroscopy) was used to investigate molecule orientation and surface-molecule bonding as a function of surface coverage; The results provided new insights on the inhibition mechanism of this IL family. O. Gharbi, S. Thomas, C. Smith, and N. Birbilis, Npj Mater Degrad, 2, 12 (2018) http://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-018-0034-5.A. Kosari et al., Corros Sci, 190, 109651 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2021.109651.C. Verma, E. E. Ebenso, and M. A. Quraishi, J Mol Liq, 233, 403–414 (2017) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2017.02.111.J. Sun, P. C. Howlett, D. R. MacFarlane, J. Lin, and M. Forsyth, Electrochim Acta, 54, 254–260 (2008).N. V. Likhanova et al., Corros Sci, 52, 2088–2097 (2010) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2010.02.030.A. Z. Benbouzid et al., Corrosion Communications, 9, 57–64 (2023).
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