Effect of cooling conditions on corrosion resistance of friction stir welded 2219-T62 aluminum alloy thick plate joint

Abstract Friction stir welding (FSW) with water cooling and air cooling was used to weld 2219-T62 aluminum alloy joints with a thickness of 20 mm. The effect of cooling conditions on the corrosion resistance of joints in 3.5% NaCl solution was investigated using the open circuit potential (OCP), the potentiodynamic polarization, and the corrosion morphology after immersing for different time. And the precipitates distribution was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results reveal that the weld nugget zone (WNZ) owning positive potential, lower corrosion current density and fine and uniform precipitates, is much more difficult to corrode than the heat affected zone (HAZ) and the base metal (BM). Compared with air-cooled joint, the water-cooled joint has better corrosion resistance. In addition, the results of microstructure observation show that the potential, distribution and size of second phase particles determine the corrosion resistance of FSW AA2219 alloy joints in chlorine-contained solution.