Development of proving ground field test for establishment of vehicle accelerated corrosion test procedure in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents the field tests conducted as part of activity to establish the vehicle accelerated corrosion test procedure in Malaysia, initiated by the national car manufacturer company, PROTON, Malaysia. Vehicle accelerated corrosion test is a combination of corrosion exposures and durability cycles to accelerate the corrosion process and detect potential failures that may occur during in-service conditions. PROTON conducts the vehicle accelerated corrosion test at external test centres in overseas. However, due to the different climatic of test location, some of the corrosion problems were found to be varied and many did not address the actual corrosion problems detected in Malaysia markets. Hence, the primary aim of this study is to establish a suitable corrosion driving procedure to accommodate the hot and humid environment using facilities in PROTON Test Track. Three corrosion driving procedures were designed based on the number of corrosion exposures and designated as Field Tests 1, 2 and 3. Analysis ruled out that Field Test 3 provides moderate corrosion rate of 0.077-0.842 mm/year and potentially to be the best suited for accelerated corrosion test procedure in Malaysia due to its close replication of actual cosmetic corrosion behaviour observed in Malaysia.