A Study on Surface Wetting and Corrosion Behavior of Straightened Car Panels

Abstract

Straightening of impact damaged car panels is a common practice when damaged area is small to medium. Common car panel straightening methods are hammering, heating and welding pins and pulling on the material using a device called a spot weld puller, so that the straightened metal sheet may have, as a consequence, its microstructure, stress and strain state altered. The aim of this research was to find how the above methods alter the corrosion behavior of the alloy used for car panel manufacture. Samples from similar damaged car panels were obtained, straightened, tested and compared to a sample from an original panel. Testing implied microstructure characterization, surface wetting investigation and corrosion testing. It was concluded that when straightening is carried out by hammering and using the spot weld puller the worst corrosion behavior is to be expected.