High strength copper-nickel (Cu-Ni-Mn-Al-Nb) alloys are widely used for marine applications due to their excellent resistance to seawater corrosion, high inherent resistance to biofouling and ease of fabrication. However, in-service experience has shown that these alloys may encounter variable performance worldwide due to local environmental conditions. In particular, the corrosion performance of high strength Cu-Ni alloys may be affected by the seawater environmental factors, which include biofouling, temperature, salinity, pH and dissolved oxygen content. This study reports an investigation into the galvanic corrosion performance between two wrought high strength copper-nickel alloys, with nickel contents of 15 and 19 %, regarding the influence of surface oxide films / deposits and biofouling. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to study the composition of the corrosion product films. Analyses of galvanic currents, coupled and decoupled potentials routinely monitored for seawater immersion over a period of 2 years are presented.

Subject
Biofouling, Materials performance, Nickel based alloys, Oxide films, Seawater, Copper alloys, X-ray spectroscopy, Corrosion products, Copper nickel alloys, Immersion, Risk reduction, Aluminum alloys, Galvanic current
Keywords:
Galvanic, corrosion, seawater, high strength copper-nickel alloy, XPS
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2008
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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