Tribocorrosion of Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloys was investigated in 0.05 M NaCl and 0.1 M
NaNO3 solutions under severe sliding and controlled electrochemical conditions. A
simple galvanic coupling model was developed to analyze and quantitatively predict the
evolution potential of the open circuit potential during tribocorrosion. According to this
model and the obtained results, galvanic coupling was established in the NaNO3
solution within the wear track between passive and mechanically depassivated areas. In
the NaCl solution, galvanic coupling was established between the whole depassivated
wear track and the surrounding area. This difference was attributed to different
mechanical properties of the passive surfaces.The research team was financially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-Portugal), under a PhD scholarship (SFRH/BD/27911/2006). The authors thank also to Dr. Edith Ariza (University of Minho) and Pierre Mettraux (EPFL) for SEM analysis
