Corrosion and wear resistance of AZ31 Mg alloy treated by duplex process of magnetron sputtering and plasma electrolytic oxidation

Abstract In order to improve the wear and corrosion resistance of AZ31 magnesium alloy, a magnetron-sputtered Al layer with a thickness of 11 μm was firstly applied on the alloy, and then treated by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) in an aluminate and silicate electrolytes, respectively. The performance of PEO coatings was investigated by dry sliding wear and electrochemical corrosion tests. The aluminate coating exhibits excellent wear resistance under both 10 and 20 N loads. The silicate coating only shows low wear rate under 10 N, but it was destroyed under 20 N. Corrosion tests show that the Al layer after magnetron sputtering treatment alone cannot afford good protection to the Mg substrate. However, the duplex layer of PEO/Al can significantly improve the corrosion resistance of AZ31 alloy. Electrochemical tests show that the aluminate and silicate coatings have corrosion current densities of ∼1.6×10−6 and ∼1.1×10−6 A/cm2, respectively, which are two orders lower than that of the un-coated AZ31 alloy. However, immersion tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) show that the aluminate coating exhibits better long-term corrosion protection than silicate coating.