Eliminating hexavalent chromium-based corrosion inhibitors from structural aircraft coatings remains a significant challenge, primarily due to the lack of reliable accelerated test methods. This study evaluates the performance of various structural aircraft coatings under different exposure conditions, i.e. outdoor exposure, cyclic salt spray testing and in-service conditions, supplemented by environmental sensors. Quarterly inspections and scanning electron microscopy were used to evaluate corrosion damage. The findings highlight a lack of correlation between accelerated testing and outdoor exposure testing, likely driven by disparities in salt deposition, UV-radiation, time of wetness and temperature cycling. Additionally, galvanic couples between skin and fasteners remain difficult to protect, with chromate-based systems offering limited inhibition and alternative systems struggling to protect such complex assemblies. However, in lap-joints, alternative coatings outperformed chromate-based counterparts, likely due to their polymer matrices providing improved barrier properties, hence limiting access of electrolyte to the coating-aluminium alloy interface.

The substitution of chromate-containing structural coating systems in aviation with alternatives complying with nowadays strict environmental, health and safety regulations remains a formidable challenge. This complexity is partly due to the absence of a standardized from-test-to-market methodology, including a performance comparison between chromate-containing and alternative coating systems. To address this gap, the present study delves into the identification of crucial degradation factors that merit inclusion in such a methodology. Concurrently, it investigates the protective mechanisms inherent in chromate-containing coating systems and proposes improvements that can be applied to alternative coating systems. This study entails a comprehensive post-service examination of the degradation of paint applied to an aircraft component with over 35 years of service, employing electrochemical, microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The findings underscore the role of thermo-oxidation as a significant degradation factor in the aging process of such coatings. Furthermore, the investigation elucidates a notable phenomenon in which aluminium ions within the coating pores form an aluminium hydroxide gel onto which chromate adsorbs. This process contributes to an increase in pore resistance upon exposure to electrolyte, leading to a self-healing barrier effect within the coating. Remarkably, this self-healing mechanism continues to offer long-term protection even when the coating matrix is sub-optimally cured due to application errors. Furthermore, this study reveals that the significant changes in capacitance during immersion testing result primarily from inhibitor leaching, emphasizing the effectiveness of combining Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis for studying coating degradation.

A challenge in developing an in-depth understanding of the crack growth resistance of ALM materials is the fact that mechanical properties of additive manufactured materials have been shown to be both process and part-geometry dependent. Up to now, no studies have investigated the influence of off-axis (beyond the three orthogonal build orientations) orientations on the fatigue crack growth behaviour of selective laser melted Ti-6Al-4V. Furthermore, the widespread use of compact tension specimens for investigating the material behaviour generates data more suitable for plane-strain conditions, rather than the plane-stress state which is more applicable to many lightweight aerospace structures. To address this gap in knowledge, a comprehensive study was carried out to investigate the influence of off-axis build direction in thin SLM Ti-6Al-4V plates, with a focus on the influence of microstructure anisotropy on the fatigue crack growth behaviour. It was found that although an anisotropic grain structure is visible on the specimens, it had no discernible influence on the crack growth resistance when the specimen had undergone a stress relieving heat treatment.