Electronics cooling and environmental control systems are required in enclosed manned spaces such as the inside of spacecraft or submersibles. Because egress from such spaces may not be possible in a short time frame, coolant leaks must have minimum toxicity. For this reason, propylene glycol coolants are preferred over the traditional ethylene glycol coolants. Corrosion inhibitor formulations are well developed for ethylene glycol coolants, but there is concern that the inhibitor suite for propylene glycol systems may not be as mature. In particular, coolant systems with a mixture of aluminum and copper can develop heavy metal ion corrosion of the aluminum due to precipitation of copper ions from solution onto the aluminum. This type of accelerated corrosion of aluminum does not require electrical contact with copper, as is the case for galvanic corrosion, nor is significant coolant conductivity required for corrosion to occur. This paper presents a study of the ability of a commercial inhibited propylene glycol coolant to prevent heavy metal ion corrosion of aluminum when copper is also present in the coolant system. The inhibited propylene glycol’s performance is compared to that of reagent propylene glycol without inhibitors, a mature ethylene glycol inhibited coolant, and to tap water. The inhibitor suite in the inhibited propylene glycol was found to be as effective in controlling heavy metal ion corrosion as that of the inhibited ethylene glycol coolant, while uninhibited reagent propylene glycol was ineffective in controlling heavy metal ion corrosion.
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