Highly alkali-resistant aluminum member

Abstract

An aluminum member exhibits improved alkali resistance with respect to an anodic oxide coating. The highly alkali-resistant aluminum member includes a material that includes aluminum or an aluminum alloy, an anodic oxide coating that is formed on the surface of the material, and a coating layer that is formed on the anodic oxide coating, and includes a siloxane glass component in a ratio of 90 mass % or more, wherein the coating layer has a thickness of 0.5 to 5.0 μm and a coating mass of 0.4 to 5.0 g/m.sup.2.

Claims

1. A method for producing an alkali-resistant aluminum member comprising: forming an anodic oxide coating having a thickness of 5 to 20 μm on a surface of a material that includes aluminum or an aluminum alloy in a sulfuric acid aqueous solution or in an oxalic acid aqueous solution; subjecting the material having the anodic oxide coating to a hot water treatment or a semi-sealing treatment in hot water at 70 to 85° C. for 5 to 30 minutes so as to wash away remaining sulfuric acid or oxalic acid; and thereafter applying an alkoxysiloxane coating material to the heated anodic oxide coating, and drying the applied alkoxysiloxane coating material to form a coating layer on the anodic oxide coating, wherein the applying and drying of the alkoxysiloxane coating material results in the coating layer comprising a siloxane glass component in a ratio of 90 mass % or more occupied in the coating layer, and wherein no discoloration of the alkali-resistant aluminum member is observed after being immersed in a 1/10 N sodium hydroxide aqueous solution at 20° C. for 20 minutes, washed, and dried.

2. The method for producing an alkali-resistant aluminum member as defined in claim 1, wherein the alkoxysiloxane coating material has a concentration that includes an alkoxysiloxane compound in a ratio of 50 mass % or more.

3. The method for producing an alkali-resistant aluminum member as defined in claim 1, wherein the applying and drying of the alkoxysiloxane coating material results in a thickness of the coating layer of 0.5 to 5.0 μm, and a coating mass of 0.4 to 5.0 g/m2.

4. The method for producing an alkali-resistant aluminum member as defined in claim 1, further comprising: coloring the anodic oxide coating before subjecting the material to the hot water treatment or the semi-sealing treatment.

5. The method for producing an alkali-resistant aluminum member as defined in claim 1, wherein the hot water treatment washes away any remaining sulfuric acid aqueous solution or oxalic acid aqueous solution.

6. The method for producing an alkali-resistant aluminum member as defined in claim 1, wherein the semi-sealing treatment causes partial, but not complete, sealing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 illustrates surface treatment conditions and evaluation results.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(2) Production examples and evaluation results with regard to the aluminum or aluminum alloy member according to the invention are described below.

(3) An aluminum alloy extruded material was subjected to an electrolytic treatment in a sulfuric acid aqueous solution to form an anodic oxide coating according to an ordinary method.

(4) The thickness of the coating was 10 μm.

(5) The extruded material was immersed in hot water at 80 to 95° C. for 5 to 20 minutes (see FIG. 1).

(6) After drying the extruded material, an alkoxysiloxane coating material was applied to the extruded material, and the extruded material was dried at room temperature.

(7) The coating material (“TOP NOTCH COAT TN-7000” manufactured by JSP Co., Ltd.) had an alkoxysiloxane content of 50 mass % or more.

(8) Note that the thickness of the coating layer was changed by changing the amount of the coating material applied to the extruded material. The thickness of the vitreous coating layer after drying is listed in FIG. 1.

(9) The adhesion target and the alkali resistance target were set as described below taking account of application to the exterior parts of an automobile.

(10) Adhesion

(11) The specimen was immersed in purified water at 40° C. for 360 hours. After cutting the vitreous coating layer into 1×1 mm squares, a peel test using an adhesive cellophane tape was performed. A case where no square was peeled (removed) (0/100) was evaluated as “Good”.

(12) Alkali Resistance

(13) The specimen was immersed in a 1/10 N sodium hydroxide aqueous solution (20° C.) for 20 minutes, washed, and dried.

(14) A case where no discoloration was observed was evaluated as “Good”.

(15) The following were confirmed from the results listed in FIG. 1.

(16) (1) The adhesion was evaluated as “Good” when the extruded material on which the anodic oxide coating was formed was immersed in hot water at 80° C. for 5 minutes (see Example 1 and Comparative Example 2).

(17) The adhesion was evaluated as “Bad” when the extruded material was immersed in hot water at 90° C. for 20 minutes (see Comparative Example 3).

(18) Specifically, since a decrease in adhesion occurs as the degree of sealing of the anodic oxide coating increases, it is preferable to perform the hot water treatment so as to wash an acid that remains in the anodic oxide coating, or perform the semi-sealing treatment so that complete sealing does not occur.

(19) Therefore, it is preferable to perform the hot water treatment or the semi-sealing treatment by immersing the extruded material in hot water at 70 to 85° C. for 5 to 30 minutes.

(20) When the immersion time is set to about 5 to 20 minutes, it is preferable to use hot water at 75 to 85° C.

(21) The alkali resistance was evaluated as “Bad” when the thickness of the vitreous coating layer was 0.4 μm (see Comparative Example 2). Therefore, it is preferable to set the thickness of the vitreous coating layer to 0.5 to 5.0 μm (see Examples 1 to 3).

(22) The coating mass of the vitreous coating layer was 0.4 to 5.0 g/m.sup.2 when the thickness of the vitreous coating layer was 0.5 to 5.0 μm.

(23) In the examples, a sulfuric acid electrolytic coating that was formed using a sulfuric acid aqueous solution and had a thickness of 10 μm was used as the anodic oxide coating. It is preferable that the anodic oxide coating have a thickness of 5 to 20 μm when used for the exterior parts of an automobile. The anodic oxide coating may be an oxalic acid electrolytic coating having a thickness within the above range.

(24) Aluminum or an aluminum alloy that is used as the material may have been subjected to a mechanical finish (e.g., buffing) or a chemical finish (e.g., chemical polishing and electrolytic polishing).

(25) When the material has been subjected to such a gloss finish, it is possible to obtain excellent alkali resistance while maintaining gloss by means of the surface treatment according to the invention.

(26) The anodic oxide coating may be colored by secondary electrolytic coloring or dyeing.