Effect of gallium additive on the corrosion resistance, heat capacity, and changes in thermodynamic functions of AlBe1 aluminum alloy

The thermophysical properties of metals and alloys play an important role in high-temperature equipment: without them, it is impossible to create reliable devices and structures in aviation, space and laser engineering, and nuclear power engineering, as well as to predict the behavior of materials under extreme conditions. From the scientific standpoint, it is interesting to study the thermophysical properties of pure metals and alloys derived from them across a wide temperature range as they constitute convenient models. The study of the thermophysical properties of aluminum alloys in relation to temperature is an important scientific problem that is of great practical significance.

The present article discusses the effects of gallium addition on the corrosion-electrochemical behavior, heat capacity, and changes in thermodynamic functions of the AlBe1 aluminum alloy. The addition of gallium (up to 0.5 wt%) was shown to increase the corrosion resistance of the initial alloy in NaCl electrolyte medium. In the cooling mode, the known heat capacity of a standard M00 copper specimen was used to determine the temperature dependence of heat capacity for the AlBe1 aluminum alloy doped with gallium. With rising temperature, the heat capacity, enthalpy, and entropy of alloys were shown to increase while the Gibbs energy decreased. With a higher amount of gallium, the heat capacity, enthalpy, and entropy of the AlBe1 aluminum alloy were found to increase, with the Gibbs energy decreasing.