Shipborne environment is the main service circumstance of aircraft equipment in the future, which combines features of high temperature, high relative humidity, high salinity from marine environment and acidic gas from shipborne equipment. Aluminum alloys suffer severe corrosion in such an environment. In this study acidic salt spray test is used to simulate the shipborne environment and applied to 2124 aluminum alloys with three different anodic oxidations, i.e., chromic acid anodization (CAA), boric-sulfuric acid anodization (BSAA) and malic-sulfuric acid anodization (MSAA). The corrosion resistance and fatigue property of anodized 2124 alloys are evaluated at different cycles of the test. The structure evolution of anode oxide films is characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS). The axial fatigue life of anodized samples is measured after different cycles of the test. The fracture morphology is also studied. The results suggests that anodic oxidation can significantly enhance the corrosion resistance of 2124 alloy. BSAA and MSAA samples exhibit better corrosion resistance than CAA samples. Corrosion signs of the substrate of CAA appear after 4 cycles of the test, while after 6 cycles for BSAA and MSAA. The fatigue life generally declines with salt spray test cycles, which is consistent with the corrosion resistance performance. However, MSAA has the highest residual fatigue life.

shipborne environment  /  2124 aluminum alloy  /  anodic oxidation  /  corrosion resistance  /  fatigue property