Bonding characteristics and corrosion resistance of silane–cerium-treated aluminum adherend

Abstract A silane–cerium treatment was applied on an aluminum adherend to simultaneously improve the bonding performance and corrosion resistance of the adhesively bonded aluminum joint in cryogenic applications, such as with liquefied natural gas containment tanks. The lap shear strengths and corrosion performances of the adhesively bonded joints composed of treated aluminum adherends were measured with respect to the silane–cerium treatment and the surface pretreatment on the aluminum adherend. The bonding characteristics of the aluminum adherend were investigated by measuring the water contact angle and conducting the potentiodynamic polarization test after the aluminum adherends with different surface treatments of silane–cerium were immersed in a 0.5 M NaCl solution. In addition, the surfaces were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to characterize the chemical compositions of the silane–cerium-treated aluminum adherend. The experimental results show that an appropriate silane–cerium treatment on the aluminum adherend produces an effective corrosion-resistant layer and that it has a highly reliable bonding characteristic for the adhesive joint at a cryogenic temperature of −150 °C. Keywords: aluminumcorrosion resistancehybrid treatmentsilane coupling agentcryogenic testlap shear strength Acknowledgments This research was supported by the WCU (World Class University) program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (R31-2008-000-10045-0), grant No. EEWS-2011-N01110017 from the EEWS Research Project of the office of KAIST EEWS Initiative (EEWS: Energy, Environment, Water, and Sustainability) and BK21. Their support is greatly appreciated.