Corrosion Performance of a Magnesium Tower Brace 2021-01-0276
This study reports the corrosion performance of three different coating strategies tested on an AE44 high performance magnesium strut tower brace used on the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. The alloy was selected due to its improved structural performance at higher temperatures over conventional AM60B magnesium die castings. The first coating strategy used no pretreatment, conversion coating, or topcoat to gage the baseline corrosion performance of the uncoated alloy. The second coating strategy used a conventional pretreatment commonly used on AM60B alloy. The third used a ceramic-based conversion coating. A textured (stipple) powder coat was then applied to the two non-baseline parts over the pretreatment. All three coating strategies were then evaluated by comparing the corrosion performance after cyclic corrosion testing for 12 weeks using the Ford L-467 test. Aluminum washers were used to isolate the upper steel fasteners from the magnesium surface to prevent galvanic corrosion from affecting the comparison. Studies showed the ceramic-based pretreatment provided the best corrosion performance with this alloy and powder coat combination.
Citation: Lazarz, K., Cahill, J., Ciccone, T., Redlin, K. et al., "Corrosion Performance of a Magnesium Tower Brace," SAE Technical Paper 2021-01-0276, 2021, https://doi.org/10.4271/2021-01-0276. Download Citation
Author(s):
Kimberly Lazarz, James Cahill, TJ Ciccone, Ken Redlin, Steven Simko
Affiliated:
Ford Motor Company
Pages: 7
Event:
SAE WCX Digital Summit
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Related Topics:
Corrosion
Coatings, colorants, and finishes
Casting
Magnesium
Aluminum
Alloys
Washers
Steel
Fasteners
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