Study of corrosion and its control in aluminum solar collectors. Progress report, September 1, 1976--November 30, 1976

Technical Report · Wed Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

OSTI ID:7299333

Giner, J; Swette, L; Wong, D

The corrosion characteristics of aluminum under conditions relevant to the operation of solar energy collectors were studied. A non-destructive electrochemical measurement, linear polarization resistance, is being used along with analysis of pit formation to determine corrosion behavior of aluminum under a variety of conditions. The corrosion characteristics of 1100 series aluminum are being investigated in aqueous ethylene glycol. This study is intended to cover the following range of conditions: (1) approximately 20/sup 0/ to 100/sup 0/C (70/sup 0/ to 210/sup 0/F) for Arrhenius plots; (2) stagnant solution, laminar flow, turbulent flow; (3) under N/sub 2/ and air; (4) exposed to pure ethylene glycol and water, and decomposed ethylene glycol and water; and (5) in the presence of Cl/sup -/, Fe/sup +3/ and Cu/sup +2/ ions. Arrhenius plots were completed and pit formation examined for pure ethylene glycol-water, stagnant solution under nitrogen. Under these least aggressive conditions, the activation energy for 1100 series aluminum corrosion is approximately 5 Kcal/mole as derived from Arrhenius plots based on linear polarization resistance measurements at four temperatures. Pitting corrosion is also found to occur at all temperatures under these conditions. The deepest pits occurred at 77/sup 0/C (170/sup 0/F) 35..mu..; the shallowest, 10..mu.., but largest diameter pits occurred at 99/sup 0/C (210/sup 0/F). Measurements under flowing conditions, under air and added ions, are in progress.

• Research Organization: Giner, Inc., Waltham, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7299333
• Report Number(s): COO-2934-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360105 -- Metals & Alloys-- Corrosion & Erosion
ALCOHOLS
ALUMINIUM
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
ARRHENIUS EQUATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CORROSION
CORROSIVE EFFECTS
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
GLYCOLS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
METALS
MIXTURES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PITTING CORROSION
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLUTIONS
STAGNATION
WATER