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Received: November 12, 2019; Revised: December 11, 2019; Accepted: December 12, 2019
Abstract: The hull material of a high-speed ship may cause erosion damage from fluid impact. When physical erosion and electrochemical corrosion combine, erosion corrosion damage occurs. The aluminum ship is vulnerable to erosion corrosion because it can be operated at high speed. Thus, in this study, Al5052-O and Al6061-T6 aluminum alloys for the marine environment were selected as experimental materials. The erosion corrosion resistance of Al5052-O and Al6061-T6 aluminum alloys in seawater was investigated by an erosion test and potentiodynamic polarization test at the various flow rate (0 m/s, 5 m/s, 10 m/s, 15 m/s, 20 m/s). Erosion corrosion characteristics were evaluated by surface analysis, 3D analysis, SEM analysis, and the Tafel extrapolation method. The results of surface damage analysis after the erosion test showed that Al6061-T6 presented better erosion resistance than Al5052-O. The results of the potentiodynamic polarization test at the various flow rate, corrosion current density by Tafel extrapolation presented lower values of Al6061-T6 than Al5052-O. Al5052-O showed more surface damage than Al6061-T6 at all flow rates. Consequently, Al6061-T6 presented better erosion corrosion resistance than Al5052-O. The results of this study are valuable data for selecting hull material for an aluminum alloy vessel.