Whether it is classical automobiles or recent autonomous vehicles, manufacturers must mandatorily perform a series of tests to help the vehicles comply with the relevant standards and behave according to the predetermined criteria.

Corrosion Testing for Automotive Components

Corrosion Testing for Automotive Components

Out of various tests, Corrosion testing helps determine the capability of materials to resist the effects of corrosion caused by temperature, humidity, and exposure to salt and water, due to weather and road conditions.

Typically, for Automotive applications, there are mainly two categories of standards: one for Accelerated corrosion and one for Cyclic corrosion.

Corrosion Testing for Automotive Components Visual Diagram

Five Interesting Facts About Corrosion Tests

  1. Accelerated Corrosion test mainly evaluates products like metals, coated materials, plastics, and wood in corrosive conditions. The test methods involve exposing the specimens to continuous salt spray for a pre-determined period. Some standards for accelerated tests are ISO 16151 and ASTM B117.
  2. Accelerated Corrosion test subjects the specimen to extended periods and does not accurately reproduce the conditions to which automotive components are subjected in the real world. For example, accelerated tests simulate either continuous wet or dry conditions, whereas in the real world, automotive parts are often subjected to these conditions for only a limited period. Also Salt Spray tests have a high salt concentration than real-world situations and automotive parts, in real-world, can be subjected to salts other than just NaCl.
  3. Cyclic Corrosion test mainly focuses on accelerating the real-world corrosion failures. These tests evaluate products such as metals, coated materials, plastics, and woods for the various environments found in nature. The standard for the Cyclic Corrosion test is SAE J2334.
  4. In the Cyclic Corrosion Test, the correlation coefficient between lab test results and real-world condition results is better than in the Accelerated Corrosion test.
  5. The Cyclic Corrosion Test, as specified in SAE J2334, simulates real-world situations involving continuous cycling through humid, salt, and dry stages. To establish this standard, SAE conducted a series of tests in the most corrosive environments in North America over a five-year period, measuring the performance of the materials. The results were then statistically analyzed, yielding the best correlation with real-world outcomes.

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