SPATIAL STATISTICS OF PARTICLES AND CORROSION PITS IN 2024-T3 ALUMINUM-ALLOY

Corrosion pits in aluminium alloys nucleate and grow in the proximity of constituent particles. Descriptions of the spatial statistics of th e particles and pits are critical for stochastic modelling of corrosio n. Statistical models, which are generalizations of a hard-core sequen tial inhibition process, are proposed. The models include the effects of randomness in the number, the locations, and the sizes of the featu res. The applicability of the models are based on experimental data ta ken from 2024-T3 aluminium alloy specimens subjected to a 0.5 M NaCl e nvironment. The observed constituent particles tend to be clustered, w hereas the subsequent corrosion pits tend towards regularity as measur ed by nearest neighbour spacing.