Effect of retrogression re-aging treatment on corrosion behavior of 7055 Al-Zn-Mg alloy

The effect of retrogression re-aging treatment (RRA) on the corrosion behavior of 7055 Al-Zn-Mg alloy was studied in this paper. Results provided that corrosion resistance could be greatly improved by RRA. After the RRA treatment, the isolated precipitates occurred on grain boundaries (GBs) and the low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) presented a larger fraction compared to that of single-stage peaking aging treatment. The samples after RRA treatment also show better corrosion resistance than that of single-stage peak aging treatment. In addition, of the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis showed that the impedance spectrum was consisted of semi-infinite layer diffusion impedance and stagnant Weber impedance. The semi-infinite layer diffusion impedance corresponded to a limited retention layer on the electrode surface while the Weber impedance represented a stagnant layer of corrosion products generated by the anode branches. The aluminum alloy after RRA treatment achieved higher R_f and low C_f, C_p values and its corrosion current density was ten times smaller compared to the single-stage peak aging samples with the 10% hardness losing. (paper)