Galvanic Corrosion of Tungsten Coupled With Several Metals/Alloys

摘要

From an environment perspective, tungsten is a more desirable material than depleted uranium (DU) for penetrator applications. However, the ballistic performance attained by current tungsten (W) alloys is inferior to DU. Recently, advanced tungsten-metal (W-M) composites have been developed to improve their ballistic penetration, but the corrosion properties are unknown and need to be determined. In this work, the galvanic corrosion behavior of W coupled with several selected metals/alloys was investigated. Electrochemical potentiodynamic polarizations and galvanic couplings were employed. The testing was conducted in a 1 wt-% sodium sulfate solution. The selected metals/alloys were: pure W, pure titanium (Ti), Ti 6Al-4V (Ti-6-4), hafnium (Hf), 36Ni64FeO. 03C (Invar), pure iron (Fe), and brass (CDA 260). The galvanic corrosion of these couples is examined and discussed based on the results from electrochemical tests and visual observations.