Durability and Corrosion of Aluminium and Its Alloys: Overview, Property Space, Techniques and Developments

Aluminium (Al) is an important structural engineering material, its usage ranking only behind ferrous alloys (Birbilis, Muster et al. 2011). The growth in usage and production of Al continues to increase (Davis 1999). The extensive use of Al lies in its strength:density ratio, toughness, and to some degree, its corrosion resistance. From a corrosion perspec‐ tive, which is most relevant to this chapter, Al has been a successful metal used in a num‐ ber of applications from commodity roles, to structural components of aircraft. A number of Al alloys can be satisfactorily deployed in environmental/atmospheric conditions in their conventional form, leaving the corrosion protection industry to focus on market needs in more demanding applications (such as those which require coating systems, for example, the aerospace industry).