The effect of micro alloying additions of Ge on the corrosion behavior of BCC Mg-11Li-xGe (x = 0, 0.27, 0.42 wt%) alloys was investigated via a combination of potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and in situ optical imaging in quiescent 0.1 M NaCl. The results revealed that Ge can be an effective cathodic poison within a BCC Mg-Li alloy while improving the stability of the native air formed surface film. However, a limit to the beneficial effect of Ge was found due to sharing of the cathodic current between the matrix and Ge-Rich phase and micro-galvanic coupling effects.
Cain et al. (Wed,) studied this question.