Inhibition of stress corrosion cracking of alloy AA8090 T-8171 by addition of rare earth salts B. Davo ´ , A. Conde, J.J. de Damborenea * Departamento de Corrosio ´ n y Proteccio ´ n, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalu ´ rgicas CENIM (CSIC), Avda. Gregorio del Amo 8, 28040 Madrid, Spain Received 12 February 2004; accepted 21 July 2004 Available online 23 September 2004 Abstract Aluminium–lithium alloys are suitable for aeronautical purposes because of their good mechanical properties and high damage tolerance. Although these alloys are less susceptible to stress corrosion cracking than conventional alloys, Al–Li–Cu–Mg alloy (8090-T8171) still experiences this problem in a NaCl + H 2 O 2 solution. In this work it has been demonstrated that the addition of 10,000 ppm of CeCl 3 to the med- ium inhibits the stress corrosion cracking of 8090 alloy by precipitation of cerium oxides/ hydroxides. The deposition of these compounds on the alloy surface decreases the pit density and slows the crack growth through the grain boundaries by hindering the anodic dissolution of T phases. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Aluminium; Stress corrosion; Intergranular corrosion; Green inhibitors; Slow strain rate technique (SSRT) 0010-938X/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2004.07.028 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 1 553 8900; fax: +34 1 534 7425. E-mail address: jdambo@cenim.csic.es (J.J. de Damborenea). Corrosion Science 47 (2005) 1227–1237 www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci