A computational framework to model damage due to corrosion in aluminum alloys
The objective of this work is to develop a simulation environment to study corrosion induced damage in aluminum alloys. The computational framework includes coupling of electrostatics and stress evolution processes. The rate of corrosion is obtained by solving a nonlinear electrostatics bolundary-value problem. The current density field obtained from this boundary value problem is used to evolve the topology of anodic surfaces. The evolving nature of the alloy domain leads to stress fields that vary as functions of the current density. This capability of the framework is proven to be helpful in studying corrosion-damage processes in alloys such as Al 5083 where the β phase (Al3Mg2) is considered to be anodic. This work presents details of the formulation and implementation of the proposed corrosion simulation framework as well as illustrative examples that demonstrate its capabilities.
