Corrosion and well painted aluminum...

[comfortcat]

Exactly how durable is well painted aluminum from corrosion?


Well, here is an example of aluminum that was buried underground for over 44 years!


In 1974, we had a retaining wall built at my mom's house. The workers took a break, and left these cans to be buried. This year, a tree root finally pushed the wall over, and we have to rebuild it.

Here is what we found! 44 years in a damp area under mom's front lawn. Just goes to show how important a good paint job can be!


Pretty Cool.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/e9lhgijou8...10065.jpg?dl=0

[rbibb]

Anybody know what alloy is used for making cans? Expect that has a lot to do with it.

[fixnflyguy]

Beer cans are 3000 series aluminum alloy..Not very corrosive at all...not very strong either, but at least you can crush them on your forehead. Wouldn't make a good plane, but that is why our skins are Alclad with 1100 series "pure" aluminum coating..very good at corrosion resistance.

[BMC_Dave]

Kind of along the same lines. I was floored when I helped with a wing walk repair of our club's Archer II. Turns out they box in the area directly behind the air inlet with bare aluminum, presumably 2024 Alclad, and after almost 40 years of ram air and moisture it was practically spotless. Most everything else had primer but it really showed how well Alclad weathers.

[Planecrazy232]

The cans might explain why the wall fell in the first place!!

[DaleB]

Ah, Schlitz. The beer that convinced me I hated beer.


(I got better.)

[snopercod]

I thought beer cans were made of steel in the seventies. Maybe the sixties were too hard on my brain?

[Maverick 4003]

...we had 3 left @ that '74 party, recognized from the one upside down..

[bk1bennett]

Schlitz appears to carry a lot of memories for some of us. I was in a band in high school, and we were on a road trip to New Orleans during my sophomore year. One of the other, older, members decided to fill up a bathtub with Schlitz on ice for the four of us (18 was the drinking age back then in Louisiana), and I ended up with my first case of the bed spins. Didn't drink again while I was in high school. Hard-learned lessons are often the best-learned lessons.