Study of the corrosion mechanism of Mg–Gd based soluble magnesium alloys with different initial texture states

Abstract In order to clarify the influence of different initial texture states on the corrosion mechanism of soluble Mg alloy materials, the as cast and after extruded + perforated (EP) deformed Mg–Gd based soluble magnesium alloys are investigated by the microstructure, surface morphology, surface volta potential, immersion test and electrochemical measurement separately. The results indicate that: the rate of corrosion of the as cast Mg–Gd based soluble magnesium alloy can reach 43.85 mg/cm2/h at 93 °C in a 3 wt% KCl solution, while after EP deformation the rate of corrosion is greatly reduced to only 8.37 mg/cm2/h. Combined with the microstructure analysis, it is concluded that the EP deformed destroyed the coarse reticulated second phase in the as cast structure, which reduced the micro-electrocouple corrosion effect of the second phase. Finally, the corrosion mechanism models for different initial texture states are established through the analysis of microstructure and corrosion morphology, respectively. It is found that the microscopic corrosion mechanism of the as cast Mg–Gd based soluble magnesium alloy is mainly intercrystalline corrosion, which is a superposition of micro-electrocouple corrosion and Mg matrix dissolution. While the microscopic corrosion mechanism of the EP deformed is mainly intracrystalline corrosion, which is manifested as pitting corrosion.