Effect of rolling ratios on the microstructural evolution and corrosion performance of an as-rolled Mg-8 wt.%Li alloy

In this work, the influence of rolling ratios on microstructural changes and corrosion behavior of an as-rolled Mg-8 wt.%Li alloy in 0.1 mol/L NaCl solution has been investigated. It revealed that with the rolling ratio being increased from 3 to 10, the α-Mg phases were elongated and fragmented, whilst the area fraction of exposed β-Li phases increased. Meanwhile, the corrosion performance of the alloy decreased with the increased rolling ratios. For all the samples, their corrosion processes were quite similar and can have two stages. At the initial stage with the samples being immersed for less than 6 h, the corrosion mainly occurred in β-Li phases. When the samples were immersed for longer than 6 h, the corrosion attack transferred to α-Mg phases and the hydrogen evolution rate was accelerated.