This article summarizes the characteristics, material properties, and typical applications of aluminum alloy wrought products. It describes the most widely used worldwide alloy designation system and discusses five major categories, namely flat-rolled products; rod, bar, and wire; tubular products; shapes; and forgings. The article also discusses three widely used indexes to define the fracture resistance of aluminum alloys: notch toughness, tear resistance, and plane-strain fracture toughness. It also describes three types of corrosion attack of these alloys: general or atmospheric surface corrosion, stress-corrosion cracking, and exfoliation attack.

Corrosion, fatigue, and their synergistic interactions are among the principal causes of damage to aircraft structures. This article describes aircraft corrosion fatigue assessment in the context of different approaches used to manage aircraft structural integrity, schedule aircraft inspection intervals, and perform repair and maintenance of aircraft in service. It illustrates the types of corrosive attack observed in aircraft structures, including uniform, galvanic, pitting, filiform, fretting, intergranular, exfoliation corrosion, and stress-corrosion cracking. The article discusses geometric parameters such as pit dimensions, surface roughness, loss of metal thickness, and volume increase due to pillowing to quantitatively characterize the types of corrosion. It also explains the two most common fatigue life assessment methods used in the military aerospace industry: fatigue crack initiation and crack growth analysis.

Most alloys are susceptible to intergranular corrosion, also known as intergranular attack (IGA), when exposed to specific environments. This article reviews the theory and application of acceptance tests for detecting the susceptibility of stainless steels and nickel-base alloys to IGA. It describes the most serious forms of structure-dependent corrosion, such as stress-corrosion cracking and exfoliation, in aluminum alloys including strain-Hardened 5xxx (Al-Mg) alloys and heat treated high-strength alloys. The article concludes with information on the evaluation tests for other alloys such as magnesium alloys and zinc die casting alloys.

This article provides an overview of the metallurgical effects on corrosion of different series of aluminum alloys (1xxx, 2xxx, 3xxx, 4xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx) that are classified into two categories. The first category includes the effects from insoluble, intermetallic constituent particles generally formed from trace impurity elements that play a predominant role in pitting corrosion. The second category comprises the effects from precipitation of secondary phases and effects from solute remaining in solid solution on corrosion of aluminum.

Exfoliation is a structure-dependent form of localized intergranular corrosion that follows grain boundaries in the rolling direction of wrought materials, particularly aluminum alloys. Highly cold-worked materials with elongated grain boundaries tend to be most affected. The article provides information on accelerated salt spray and total-immersion testing methods to help rate the exfoliation corrosion susceptibility of various aluminum alloys and alloy compositions. It also discusses visual assessment challenges and identifies several ASTM designations and where and how they apply.

This article provides an introduction on the metal side of the corrosion reaction and describes a wide range of metallurgical factors that influence corrosion.

This article discusses the corrosion resistance of aluminum and aluminum alloys in various environments, such as in natural atmospheres, fresh waters, seawater, and soils, and when exposed to chemicals and their solutions and foods. It describes the forms of corrosion of aluminum and aluminum alloys, including pitting corrosion, intergranular corrosion, exfoliation corrosion, galvanic corrosion, stray-current corrosion, deposition corrosion, crevice corrosion, filiform corrosion, stress-corrosion cracking, corrosion fatigue, and hydrogen embrittlement. The article also presents a short note on aluminum clad products and corrosion at joints.

This article describes the influences of the operational environments of U.S. Navy aircraft during corrosion-control process. The most widely used materials in airframe structures and components, such as aluminum, steel, titanium, and magnesium alloy systems, are reviewed. The article provides information on the inspections steps, corrosion-control issues, and corrosion-prevention strategies for naval aircraft. It contains a table that lists typical locations of corrosion on the aircraft. The article also provides examples of aircraft corrosion damage.

This article focuses on the various forms of corrosion that occur in the passive range of aluminum and its alloys. It discusses pitting corrosion, galvanic corrosion, deposition corrosion, intergranular corrosion, stress-corrosion cracking, exfoliation corrosion, corrosion fatigue, erosion-corrosion, atmospheric corrosion, filiform corrosion, and corrosion in water and soils. The article describes the effects of composition, microstructure, stress-intensity factor, and nonmetallic building materials on the corrosion behavior of aluminum and its alloys. It also provides information on the corrosion resistance of anodized aluminum in contact with foods, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals.

Aluminum and its alloys are highly corrosion resistant, protected by a self-healing oxide film that effectively passivates the underlying surface. This article examines the various processes by which the protective layer can be breached and the types of corrosion that can occur. It describes pitting, galvanic, and atmospheric corrosion as well as stress-corrosion cracking, corrosion fatigue, and erosion corrosion. It also covers intergranular, exfoliation, filiform, deposition, and crevice corrosion and special cases of corrosion in soils, seawater, and automotive coolant systems. The article provides an extensive amount of data as well as information on coatings, claddings, and cathodic protection methods; the effects of composition, microstructure, and surface treatments; and the compatibility of aluminum with food and various household and industrial chemicals.

This article provides an overview of the composition and properties of powder metallurgy (P/M) aluminum powders for pressed and sintered parts. It includes the steps involved in the processing of high-performance P/M alloys. The article describes the classes of high-performance P/M alloys, including corrosion-resistant alloys (stress-corrosion cracking), elevated-temperature alloys, and low density/high-stiffness alloys.

This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy and applications of Alclad 2029. It contains tables that present statistically determined mechanical property minimums for Alclad 2029-T8 sheet and plate. The plane stress fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth resistance of alloys 2029 and 2024 are illustrated.

This article includes a collection of color images that aid in the identification and classification of forms of corrosion in industries and environments. It emphasizes the negative aspects of corrosion and examines the cost and the effort to test, evaluate, simulate, and prevent corrosion. The ability of corrosion to undo the best complex engineered systems has been documented.

Aluminum-lithium alloys have been developed primarily to reduce the weight of aircraft and aerospace structures. This article commences with a discussion on the physical metallurgy and development of aluminum-lithium alloys. It focuses on major commercial aluminum-lithium alloys, including alloy 2090, alloy 2091, alloy 8090, alloy CP276, and Weldalite 049. The article also lists the chemical compositions, physical properties, fabrication characteristics, corrosion performance, and general applications of these alloys. A comparison of alloy properties is represented graphically.

This article discusses corrosion fatigue, its effects on the damage tolerance of aircraft, and its predictive modeling. A conceptual framework is presented that incorporates two distinctive cyclic-based life-prediction philosophies and expands them both to include the time domain in order to consider the effects of corrosion. These philosophies include crack initiation used for safe-life design and crack growth used for damage tolerance. The article presents the methodology for computing the effects of real-time age degradation on an aircraft structure for two different corrosion types: crevice and pitting corrosion. It describes the rationale and techniques needed to apply the age-based structural integrity processes to in-service structures in order to realize the benefits throughout the full structural life cycle.

This article is a pictorial guide to forms of corrosion that draws attention to common pitfalls or situations that have caused premature corrosion, sometimes with expensive consequences. The examples used are not exhaustive; they highlight the necessity to fully examine materials, conditions, and specific circumstances that together can reduce the anticipated service life of a component or plant. The color images in this article are categorized according to the type of corrosion following the general order that is adopted in Volume 13A of ASM Handbook. The first table of the article provides a categorization of the forms of corrosion. It also provides a reference to articles or sections of articles in Volume 13A that detail the particular corrosion form or mechanism. The second table is a guide listing the figures in this article by material and by the corrosion form or mechanism illustrated.

This article outlines the processes by which materials are selected to prevent or control localized corrosion, galvanic corrosion, and intergranular corrosion. It reviews the operating conditions and the design of candidate materials for material selection. The article discusses various corrosion-resistant materials, including ferrous and nonferrous metals and alloys, thermoplastics, reinforced thermosetting plastics, nonmetallic linings, glass, carbon and graphite, and catalyzed resin coatings. It examines an unusual form of intergranular corrosion known as exfoliation, which occurs in aluminum-copper alloys. The article also describes three types of erosion-corrosion: liquid erosion-corrosion, cavitation, and fretting. It concludes with information on the various factors to be considered for material selection, including minimum cost or economic design, minimum corrosion, minimum investment, and minimum maintenance.

This article addresses the major heat-transfer components of the water-steam loop of a power plant. It describes the various types of condensers, including water-cooled condensers and air-cooled condensers. The article explains the corrosion mechanisms encountered in the condensers, including erosion-corrosion, galvanic corrosion, and pitting corrosion. It discusses the types of deaerators and deals with their corrosion problems. The article provides a discussion on two types of feedwater heaters: channel feedwater heaters and header feedwater heaters. It summarizes the corrosion problems associated with common feedwater heater tube materials.

In high-strength aluminum alloys, stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) is known to occur in ordinary atmospheres and aqueous environments. This article discusses the mechanisms of SCC in aluminum alloys, providing information on two main types of SCC models: those of anodic dissolution based on electrochemical theory and those that involve the stress-sorption theory of mechanical fracture. It reviews three different categories of experiments used to compare SCC performance of candidate materials for service. The categories are tests on statically loaded smooth samples, tests on statically loaded precracked samples, and tests using slowly straining samples. The article describes SCC susceptibility and ratings of SCC resistance for high-strength wrought aluminum products, such as 2xxx, 5xxx, and 7xxx series alloys, aluminum-lithium alloys, and 7xxx alloys containing copper.

Dew-point corrosion occurs when gas is cooled below the saturation temperature pertinent to the concentration of condensable species contained by a gas. This article discusses dew-point corrosion problems in the susceptible areas of dry flue gas handling systems. The corrosion problems associated with the nitrate stress-corrosion cracking in heat-recovery steam generators are also discussed. The article presents general comments on the materials selection; plant operation; use of neutralizing additives; and maintenance, good housekeeping, and lagging (insulation). It concludes with information on guidance for maintaining specific sections of the plant.