Influence of the surface pre-treatment of aluminum on the processes of formation of cerium oxides protective films

It is known that there is special interest in the contemporary investigations on conversion treatment of aluminum aimed at promoting its corrosion stability, which is focused on electrolytes on the basis of salts of metals belonging to the group of rare-earth elements. Their application is especially attractive, as it enables a successful substitution of the presently applied highly efficient, but at the same time toxic Cr⁶⁺-containing electrolytes. The present paper presents a study on the influence of the preliminary alkaline activation and acidic de-oxidation of the aluminum surface on the processes of immersion formation of protective cerium oxides films on Al 1050. The results obtained show that their deposition from simple electrolytes (containing only salts of Ce³⁺ ions) on the Al surface, treated only in alkaline solution, occurs at a higher rate, which leads to preparing thicker oxide films having a better protective ability. In the cases when the formation of oxide films is realized in a complex electrolyte (containing salts of Ce³⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions), better results are obtained with respect to the morphology and protective action of cerium oxides film on samples that have been consecutively activated in alkaline solution and deoxidized in acidic solution.

Electrochemical investigations were carried out in a model corrosion medium (0.1 M NaCl); it was shown that the cerium protective films, deposited by immersion, have a cathodic character with regard to the aluminum support and inhibit the occurrence of the depolarizing corrosion process -- the reaction of oxygen reduction.