Comparative study of protection of AA 2024-T3 exposed to rare earth salts solutions

The inhibitive effects of the dibutyl phosphate anion in cerium dibutylphosphate [Ce(dbp)3] on AA 2024-T351 immersed in 0·05M NaCl were evaluated by comparison with immersion in cerium chloride (CeCl3) in 0·05M NaCl as well as 0·05M NaCl alone. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray hyperspectral mapping were used to examine the surfaces after exposure to the different inhibitor solutions. It was found that the dibutylphosphate anion produced additional inhibition for the matrix and the S phase intermetallic particles. The most significant mode of corrosion in the absence of inhibitors was in the form of rings of corrosion product. CeCl3 largely suppressed the formation of the rings of corrosion product, and the Ce(dbp)3 entirely eliminated them (for the time scales investigated here), indicating the additional inhibitive action of the dibutylphosphate anion.