Corrosion Rates and Changes in Mechanical Properties of Copper Alloys due to Seawater Exposure

A field study on corrosion was conducted on several copper alloys subjected to prolonged exposure in seawater. Rectangular plates made of nine alloys were deployed for a year in the North Atlantic Ocean. Material loss rates were quantified by measuring the difference in weight between the initial virgin specimens and the cleaned specimens after recovery. Changes in mechanical properties due to the seawater exposure were quantified by performing standard uniaxial tension tests. Stress-strain dependence was obtained for each of the tested materials using the digital image correlation technique. Some degradation of tensile strength was observed in all alloys, but for most of them it was not substantial.