Researchers at KTH in Sweden have studied how aluminium corrodes. The new knowledge can lead to better protective surfaces by, for example, new ways to anodize aluminium. Which, in turn, opens for aluminium that is better in tough environments but also new uses for the metal.
Using quantum mechanical calculation models, Claudio Lousada and Pavel Korzhavy have studied how corrosion affects aluminium. The first stages when the surface of the metal oxidizes has been analyzed and the researchers have gone through a variety of variants of atomic structures and the mechanisms that affect corrosion. Thus, better knowledge of aluminium has been obtained.
"The knowledge is very useful in understanding how the surface of the aluminium becomes rough due to oxidation, and thus defective. The research results increase understanding of how good and poor surface layers on aluminium are formed based on oxidation. We can, therefore, choose aluminium where the atoms form an advantageous surface structure so as to create an as homogeneous protective film as possible during oxidation, "said Claudio Lousada in a press release.
Claudio Lousada is a researcher at the Department of Materials Science at KTH.
Source: KTH.
