The onset of pitting on high purity and ultra high purity aluminum has been studied in the micrometer range by using a microelectrochemical cell in order to evaluate influences that induce localized corrosion. Microelectrochemical tests on polished samples of Al 99.999 and Al 99.9999 in 1 M NaCl showed that pitting at large areas occurred at several hundreds mV more negative than at small areas, suggesting that even very pure Al contains weak points. On rough surfaces weak points are more “activated” than on smooth surfaces. Locally measured pitting potentials of polished samples were shifted to more positive values than those measured on ground samples. Larger areas contain always small scratches, even on polished samples. Hence, the surface roughness showed a minor influence on the onset of pitting on larger areas. Microelectrochemical measurements performed on pure Al 99.99 with small amounts of copper showed that a copper content below 30 ppm is too small to have a beneficial or detrimental effect, whereas a copper content above 300 ppm probably leads to the formation of small inclusions or precipitations that acted as preferential corrosion initiation sites. A copper content around 100 ppm showed a beneficial effect on very small areas but not on larger ones.

The continuing trend in heterogeneous integration (i.e., miniaturization and diversification of devices and components) requires a fundamental understanding of the phase stability and diffusivity of nanoconfined metals in functional nanoarchitectures, such as nanomultilayers (NMLs). Nanoconfinement effects, such as interfacial melting and anomalous fast interfacial diffusion, offer promising engineering tools to enhance the reaction kinetics at low temperatures for targeted applications in the fields of joining, solid-state batteries, and low-temperature sintering technologies. In the present study, the phase stability and atomic mobility of confined metals in Cu/AlN NMLs were investigated by molecular dynamics, with the interatomic potential compared to the ab initio calculations of the Cu/AlN interface adhesion energy. Simulations of the structural evolution of Cu/AlN nanomultilayers upon heating in dependence on the Cu nanolayer thickness demonstrate the occurrence of interfacial premelting, a melting point depression, as well as extraordinary fast solid-state diffusion of confined Cu atoms along the defective heterogeneous interfaces. The model predictions rationalize recent experimental observations of premelting and anomalous fast interface diffusion of nanoconfined metals in nanostructured Cu/AlN brazing fillers at strikingly low temperatures.