Exploring the Correlation Between Interatomic Bonding and Corrosion Resistance of Metallic Alloys via Combinatorial...

Developing metallic alloys with excellent corrosion resistance is of great significance for ensuring the long-term integrity and reliability of materials in various demanding environments, thereby extending their service life and reducing maintenance costs. However, the corrosion of alloys is a complicated process influenced by many factors, such as composition, structure and surface finishing, and corrosion media. Current evaluations of alloy corrosion resistance involve many steps, which are time-consuming and laborious to explore within a vast compositional space. In this study, 1874 alloys from 8 alloy systems are prepared and characterized using a combinatorial approach. Analyses of the data indicate that corrosion resistance of an alloy is strongly correlated with metal-metal bond strength (ε_M-M) and metal-oxygen bond strength (ε_M-O). Enhanced corrosion resistance can be achieved by alloying elements with high ε_M-M and ε_M-O. The consideration from interatomic interactions further reveals that adding elements with high ε_M-M and ε_M-O to a base alloy system actually lowers the critical weight-averaged ε_M-M and ε_M-O required for corrosion resistance. The ε_M-M and ε_M-O guided selection of alloying elements is applicable in different alloy systems. This finding will facilitate the fast discovery of novel alloys with superior corrosion resistance.