For motorization, problems related to the compatibility ‘materials cooling liquids’ are complex because of their nature and function. They can be solved either by changing the shape of some parts of engine in order to obtain a better flow, or by introduction of effective corrosion inhibitors. And these later that are very used in the automotive industry, must be always optimized and adapted to the evolution of the materials. Today, the demands connected with carburant consummation and environment lead more and more operators to opt for aluminum and its alloys. In this work, we have characterized the corrosion behavior of Al-Mn alloy and of a new material, namely ''sandwich material'' consisting in a core of Al-Mn alloy veneered on both sides by a thin layer of Al-Si alloy and therefore with a structure Al-Si/Al-Mn/Al-Si in contact with commercially coolant, namely Glaceol D. The later one contains in its composition tolytriazole, as a corrosion inhibitor. This study of behavioral characterization of these materials was carried on using conventional stationary electrochemical techniques as the open circuit potential measurements, the potentiodynamic recordings, the determination of polarization resistance, coupled with metallographic observations. The main parameters considered were the influence of a pretreatment of metal surface and physic–chemical conditions of environmental study as the content of active compounds (by choosing the dilution of Glaceol D, the content of inhibitor is fixed), the nature of the dilution water (deionized or added of NaCl) and temperature: this latter one was chosen either stationary (between room temperature and 80°C) or as a thermal cycling. On the other hand, and that has allowed to establish the better behavior of the sandwich material, we tested the 99.99% pure aluminum, in the same conditions of concentration and temperature. In addition to this traditional and industrially used inhibitor, which is in the composition of the commercial product recommended by the French – Romanian company “Dacia-Renault”, we tried a new original approach by testing the effectiveness of a “green inhibitor” - a plant extract: Allium Sativum (or garlic), where the main active ingredient is allicine. By its functional group type thiosulfinate RS(= O)-SR, and the sulfur and oxygen atoms with non-binding electronic doublets, this compound has the characteristics of a film-forming product and can be put into the category of new types of “green” inhibitors investigated during the last few years.
