The marine atmospheric corrosion of pure Mg and Mg alloys in field exposure and lab simulation

It is of great significance to establish a reliable correlation between the field exposure damage and lab simulation measurements for marine atmospheric corrosion of Mg alloys. In this study, the corrosion behaviour of pure Mg, AM60, ZE41 and AZ91D was investigated in the real marine atmosphere and the simulated environments, such as salt spray and simulated sea wave impact by means of weight-loss measurement, morphology observation and corrosion product analysis. The simulated sea wave impact test appeared to be a suitable lab technique that can better simulate and reliably accelerate the marine atmospheric corrosion for Mg alloys. Based on the results, the individual influences of the environmental factors relative humidity, temperature, drying and wetting cycle and solution concentration, on the overall corrosion damage were compared, and a general damage process was proposed for the marine atmospheric corrosion of Mg alloys under different test conditions.