Effect of Microstructure on the Electrochemical Behavior of Ti-10 Mass% Mn Alloys in High Chloride Solution

The effect of microstructure on the corrosion of heat-treated Ti-10 mass% Mn alloys was investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 10% NaCl solution of pH 0.5 at 97 °C. Sample of solution heat treatment (ST) had a single β phase, and samples subjected to the aging heat treatment at 600 °C had α phase precipitation in β phases. The EIS measurements showed that the corrosion resistance of the aging heat-treated samples showed lower values than ST sample, however, much higher values than pure Ti. Thus, Mn was effective to increase the corrosion resistance of Ti alloys. Laser micrographs of heat-treated samples indicated that α phase was selectively corroded and made the pit after the corrosion test. The transmission electron microscope (TEM)-energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDXS) analyses showed that the Mn content was 9 mass% in the β phase and 0.7 mass% in α phase. Hence, it was understood that less-Mn α phase was selectively corroded in the corrosion test. However, as compared with pure Ti, the aging heat-treated samples showed much higher resistance against the corrosion by the 0.7 mass% Mn in α phase. Finally, it was concluded that it was possible to keep the high corrosion resistance for heat-treated Ti-10 mass% Mn alloy by controlling the microstructure of α phase.