Development of a Chromium-Free Post-Anodizing Treatment Based on 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole for Corrosion Protection of AA2024T3

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2017. Published by ECS. All rights reserved. The anticorrosion performance provided by new anodizing and sealing methods for the AA2024T3 aluminum alloy is discussed in this work. Two anti-corrosion post-anodizing treatments based on immersion in an ethanol solution containing 2-mercapto-benzothiazole (2-MBT) were applied. Both treatments consisted of the immersion of the anodized specimens in 2-MBT ethanol solution, but the second was followed by hydrothermal sealing in water. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and an immersion test show that both treatments exhibited improved corrosion resistance compared with anodized AA2024-T3 that was only hot water sealed. Considering that these novel anti-corrosion methods appear to provide enhanced, long-term and stable corrosion resistance to the AA2024T3 aluminum alloy, the use of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (2-MBT) is proposed as a promising inhibitor in sealing treatments.