Determining Tribocorrosion Rate and Wear-Corrosion Synergy of Bulk and Thin Film Aluminum Alloys

The increasing complexity and severity of service conditions in areas, such as aerospace and marine industries, nuclear systems, microelectronics, batteries, and biomedical devices, etc., impose great challenges on the reliable performance of alloys exposed to extreme conditions where mechanical and electrochemical attack co-exist. Finding ways for alloys to mitigate the combined attack of wear and corrosion (i.e., tribocorrosion) under such extreme conditions is thus highly critical for improving their reliability and service lifetime when used in such conditions. The challenge lies in the fact that wear and corrosion are not independent of each other, but rather work synergistically to accelerate the total material loss. Thus, a reliable method to evaluate the tribocorrosion resistance of metals and alloys is needed. Here, a protocol for measuring the tribocorrosion rate and wear-corrosion synergy of Al-based bulk and thin film samples in a corrosive environment under room temperature is presented.