Abstract
Developing metallic alloys with excellent corrosion resistance is of great significance for ensuring the long-term integrity and reliability of materials in various demanding environments, thereby extending their service life and reducing maintenance costs. However, the corrosion of alloys is a complicated process influenced by many factors, such as composition, structure and surface finishing, and corrosion media. Current evaluations of alloy corrosion resistance involve many steps, which are time-consuming and laborious to explore within a vast compositional space. In this study, 1874 alloys from 8 alloy systems are prepared and characterized using a combinatorial approach. Analyses of the data indicate that corrosion resistance of an alloy is strongly correlated with metal-metal bond strength (ε(M-M)) and metal-oxygen bond strength (ε(M-O)). Enhanced corrosion resistance can be achieved by alloying elements with high ε(M-M) and ε(M-O). The consideration from interatomic interactions further reveals that adding elements with high ε(M-M) and ε(M-O) to a base alloy system actually lowers the critical weight-averaged ε(M-M) and ε(M-O) required for corrosion resistance. The ε(M-M) and ε(M-O) guided selection of alloying elements is applicable in different alloy systems. This finding will facilitate the fast discovery of novel alloys with superior corrosion resistance.