Characterization of Low-Pressure Air Plasma Treatment on Polystyrene Coating of Aluminum Alloys 2024 and its Corrosion and Stress Corrosion Cracking Behaviors

An easily operated, environmentally friendly passivation/coating protocol is necessary for protecting aerospace components from corrosion. As opposed to the traditional wet chemicals based process, using low-pressure air plasma is a clean, dry technique that doesn’t produce hazardous chemical wastes. It can be easily conducted in a plasma chamber under the ambient environment without the need for special handling of pressurized gas. The plasma chamber can also be made portable. All of these features are advantageous to both ground-based and extended duration missions for metal cleaning and coating. Low-pressure air plasma has been well characterized in cleaning polymeric surfaces for bonding with another polymer. Using low-pressure air plasma in treating steel components for passivation is an ongoing study at the NASA KSC. In this project, the researchers aim to explore the low-pressure air plasma technique to treat the aluminum (Al) 2024 alloy for cleaning and coating. The project outcomes will complement NASA’s ongoing research by extending the feasibility of low-pressure air plasma treatment from steel to aluminum.

This project will evaluate low-pressure air plasma for its effectiveness and efficiency in the surface treatment and coating of Al 2024 for anti-corrosion. The Al 2024 series is often used for high-strength applications because its major alloying element, copper, provides the needed strength. However, the alloying copper also makes Al 2024 more inclined to corrosion because copper forms a more active galvanic coupling than other elements for promoting local corrosion. Low-pressure air plasma will first be characterized for its effectiveness in modifying the wetting property of treated Al 2024 specimens. Optimal/sub-optimal sets of the plasma treatment parameters -- the plasma power, pressure in which the plasma is produced, and the treatment time -- can be discovered by combinatorial characterization of surface wettability under various plasma treatment conditions to yield the best surface wettability. This project will also look into a new protocol for coating the plasma-treated Al 2024 alloy with polystyrene for its anti-corrosion performance, tested in a no-load and a loaded (at a slow constant strain rate) condition. Polystyrene is a widely used, cheap plastic and can have contact with food. It can be a cheap passivation alternative to traditional anodization or cladding of aluminum. The proposed protocol, the first of its kind, once proved for its feasibility, will be the primary contribution of this project.

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