Galvanic Corrosion of a Magnesium Alloy in Contact with Steel

Application ID: 10914


Magnesium alloys are attractive alternatives as lightweight materials in various fields of engineering. Magnesium is however relatively non-noble and may suffer considerable galvanic corrosion when being used in conjunction with other metals, for instance when mounting an Mg alloy component using steel fasteners.

This model example simulates a galvanic corrosion couple consisting of a magnesium alloy (AZ91D) and mild steel, with salt water (5% NaCl) as electrolyte. The example is based on a paper by J.X. Jia and others.

This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products: