Corrosion

A standard corrosion test must meet the following requirements:

• Mechanical assembled heat exchanger after a 20-day SWAAT

  To be finished in a reasonable amount of time
• To simulate the type of corrosion observed in the field
• To give a reliable ranking of different materials packages or heat exchanger designs

Due to the long experience in the automotive business Hydro decided to use the SWAAT (Sea Water Acetic Acid Test) to compare materials for alloy packages used for heat exchanger.

CAB (Controlled Atmosphere Brazed) heat exchanger after a 20-day SWAAT

The SWAAT simulates some of the harshest environments for HVACR heat exchangers.  As it can be seen on the photos below (after 20 days of SWAAT) one of the biggest advantages of the brazed all-aluminium solution is the excellent corrosion resistance which allows the unit to keep performance close to 100%!