Magnesium alloys accelerated tests

In considering the corrosion of magnesium and its alloys it is important to examine the methods available for assessing corrosion tendencies and particularly those known as accelerated tests. Tests carried out by immersion in salt water or by spraying specimens regularly with sea-water are worthless as a means of determining the resistance of magnesium alloys under any other than the particular test conditions. Extrapolation to less corrosive conditions is not valid and even the assessment of the value of protective measures by such means is hardly possible. The reason is to be found in the fact that corrosion behaviour is directly related to the formation of insoluble... 

To evaluate magnesium alloys both immersion and salt spray tests are often used. Table 7.6 shows corrosion rates obtained after different types of accelerated corrosion tests taken from the literature (52, 62, 63). The corrosion rates show a wide scatter. For some of the accelerated corrosion tests such as the immersion in NaCl solution the corrosion rates are extremely high. 

M. Jonsson and D. Persson, Accelerated corrosion tests for magnesium alloys Do they really simulate field conditions The Annual World Magnesium Conference, Warsaw, Poland (2008). 

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