Starting with the most reactive and ending with the most noble. The farther apart the metals are the more they will react.
Mass also has an impact on the speed of corrosion. If there is more anodic material in the series than the noble, the process of corrosion will be slowed. If there is a greater material of noble (passive) material than the anodic the process will be accelerrated.
Thus, in a silver (block) and copper (radiator) series corrosion will take place. Albeit, at a slower rate than other combinations.
Using this little bit of knowledge you can see that potentially the worst combination would be an Aluminum block + Copper radiator.
Using something like zinc to act as a sacrificial anode would help alleviate the danger of the Aluminum from corroding. However, measures would have to be made to keep the zinc particles from clogging the system. A secondary reservoir with microfilters would probably work very well.
(Most reactive)
Magnesium
Zinc
Aluminum (pure)
Cadmium
Aluminum lloys
Mild Steel and Iron
Un-passivated Stainless Steels
Lead-Tin Solders
Lead
Tin
Un-passivated Nickel Alloys
Brass
Copper
Bronze
Silver Solder
Passivated Nickel Alloys
Passivated Stainless Steels
Silver
Titanium
Graphite
Gold
Platinum
(Most noble)
Tacoman667 (Jun 30, 2001 10:14 a.m.):
If you were to use a silver water black with a copper radiator, would you get the galvanic corrosion like with copper/aluminum setups?