Effect of static elastic stress on the corrosion behavior of 7A04 aluminum alloy exposed to real marine atmospheric environment

Aluminum alloy structural materials are widely subjected to the interactive effect of atmospheric corrosion under thin liquid film and elastic stress during the actual service. This study utilized the real marine atmospheric environment as the corrosion environment of thin liquid film for 7A04 aluminum alloy, and the specially designed outdoor device was used to apply varying levels of static elastic tensile stress at the same time, and then the corrosion damage behavior of 7A04 alloy under the interactive effect was studied. The research indicates that the 7A04 alloy suffers from pitting and exfoliation corrosion under the test conditions. The applied elastic tensile stress can accelerate the corrosion damage process of 7A04 alloy, and the degree of acceleration increases with increasing stress levels and exposure time. Moreover, the applied stress can also significantly accelerate the deterioration of the mechanical properties of 7A04 alloy, which has a more prominent effect on the elongation after fracture. Additionally, the corrosion mechanism of 7A04 alloy under the interactive effect was also discussed in this paper.