Initiating Corrosion Prevention During the Design Phase: Utilizing Computer Aided Analysis to evaluate Corrosion Risks During Material Selection

Agnieszka Franczak, Florin Muntean, Romain Baudson, Bart Van den Bossche, Elsyca NV, Belgium

Paper presented at the Automotive Corrosion Symposium 2024.

Abstract

In the age of new metallic materials development, which is strongly demanded by the automotive industry, the effectiveness of the proper materials selection is a major challenge, as a corrosion engineer is not usually involved in the early stages of the component design. The design validation activities are mainly focused on Finite Element Analysis (FEA) regarding the structural performance of the materials and flow simulations for the casting process. The corrosion resistance analysis is often overlooked or is not given the required priority, which can result in a design modification or a complete redesign if the component will not pass the final corrosion testing. This implies a significant time, cost and schedule impact on the entire product delivery. Hence, a systematic investigation of the materials compatibility needs to be undertaken already at the design stage. In this context, Computer Aided Analysis (CAA) delivers a fast and robust qualitative analysis of the potential corrosion risks on mixed multi-material 3D computer models. The predictive modeling approach employs an FEA method to solve the fundamental electrochemical equations that govern the corrosion phenomena. The simulation results provide information on the corrosion intensity that in terms of numerical simulation methods, should be predominately considered in terms of qualitative information. Nevertheless, computer modelling provides a great opportunity to associate corrosion risks already at the design stage, permitting to implement proper mitigation strategies long before the actual component is manufactured and begins its service life.