Corrosion performance of powder‐coated aluminum profiles with increased trace element content

In this study, the corrosion susceptibility of powder‐coated Al6060 alloys with increasing Cu and Zn content is evaluated in a benchmark test. Although higher Cu and Zn limits would enable the industry to increase the use of end‐of‐life scrap and thus produce eco‐friendlier aluminum profiles, such alloys are often disregarded due to concerns of corrosion, especially filiform corrosion. Our results suggest that this concern is ungrounded as long as typical quality specifications for the pretreatment and coating process are followed and the alloy composition is kept within the limits of the European norm AW6060. Furthermore, we point out that the variation of the results due to processing at different coating production lines is larger than the difference between alloys of different Cu and Zn contents.