All-Russian Institute of Aviation Materials of the State Science Centre of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia:

V. A. Duyunova, Head of Research Department “Titanium, Magnesium, Beryllium and Aluminium Alloys”, Candidate of Technical Sciences
I. A. Kozlov, Deputy Head of Research Department “Functional Materials and Technology of Synthesis”, Candidate of Technical Sciences

Ya. S. Kuzin, Category 2 Engineer at the Laboratory for Corrosion and Protection of Metallic Materials

Ikoraf LLC, Moscow, Russia.
D. V. Piskarev, Director Responsible for Research and Technology, Candidate of Technical Sciences, e-mail: piskarev@ikoraf.com

This paper describes the results of a study that looked at the effect produced by powder and granular fluxes on specimens of aluminium alloy 6063 and steel St3 in a corrosive environment. The authors simulated the use of the above fluxes in a production environment by transferring the flux samples from one container to the other close to the specimens. After simulation, the specimens were inspected visually and weighed. Thus, in the case of granular flux its finedispersed particles were observed on ~8% of the specimens’ surface, while in the case of powder flux almost the entire surface of the specimens was covered with its particles. The corrosive effect of the deposited flux particles was analyzed by placing the specimens in a climatizer with high humidity and temperature. The conducted studies showed that the use of granular flux is associated with a smaller amount of fine-dispersed flux particles deposited on the specimen surface. The results of the climatizer study suggest that the corrosion rate of structural materials should be twice or more higher when using powder flux than when using flux granules.

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