Study of the effect of the addition of graphene oxide to the anodizing bath on the corrosion resistance of 2024-T3 aluminum alloy anodized in TSA

• Grant number: 24/23723-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Physical Metallurgy
• Principal Investigator: Hercílio Gomes de Melo
• Grantee: Samuel Moreira Costa
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Corrosion degradation of aluminum alloys used in critical industrial sectors, such as aerospace, challenges structural components' durability. Among these alloys, 2024-T3 stands out because it is widely used in this industry thanks to its mechanical strength. Still, it also suffers accelerated corrosion due to precipitated intermetallics forming local galvanic cells. Anodizing, an electrochemical procedure of thickening the oxide layer, emerges as an option to mitigate this fragility. However, in structural alloys, the resulting protection is reduced due to defects in the oxide layer associated with the composition and microstructure of the base metal. This study aims to investigate the effect of incorporating graphene oxide into a tartaric-sulfuric acid (TSA) anodizing bath to increase the corrosion resistance of 2024-T3 alloy. Anodization will be carried out un-der variations in graphene oxide concentration, temperature, time, and voltage to ana-lyze the impact of graphene oxide and anodizing parameters on the quality of the pro-tective layer. The corrosion resistance and microstructure of the anodized layers will be assessed using techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy with chemical microa-nalysis. These methods aim to establish correlations between process parameters, mi-crostructure, and corrosion protection.