Electrochemical dealloying of aluminum-zinc alloys: formation of macroporous structures Soler-Crespo, R.A. (1); Estremera, E. (2); Declet, A (1).

; Carrasquillo, R. (1); Surez, O.M. (3) (Address goes here)

Comment [OMS1]: ????

Abstract Electrochemical dealloying is a corrosion pathway and an alternative to free corrosion to remove one element of a system and obtain a porous metal or sponge. In some alloys, passivation may occur which preventspreventing porosity from evolving by limiting surface diffusion. Application of a potential from an external source to an electrochemical cell prevents passivation from occurring taking place once the critical potential (Ec), characteristic to each system, is overcome. Aluminum-zinc alloys were prepared and electrochemically dealloyed in an alkaline solution, with initial grain size, applied voltage and alloy composition being varied to study the effects of porosity evolution. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and image analysis were used to studyallowed characterizing the porosity evolution. Nanoidentation measurements were used subsequentlypermitted to mechanically characterize the resulting sponge. Our results showed that initial grain size and alloy composition affect the evolution of porosity in the sponge alloy.