Clarifying the alloying effects of La and Ce on the pitting corrosion behaviour of Al-based metallic glasses

The effects of La and Ce on the stability of the passive films and dissolution characteristics of Al-based metallic glasses were comparatively investigated. The results showed that the alloy with the addition of La had superior pitting resistance. This is because, firstly, La doping decreased the carrier density and increased the electron work function of the passive film, making it more stable, thereby inhibiting pit initiation. Moreover, molecular dynamics simulations showed that the La-alloyed glassy alloys had lower coordination number of polyhedral clusters, shorter bond lengths, and higher bond strengths, leading to slower dissolution kinetics and suppressed pit growth.