Mechanical and corrosion properties of Al/Ti film on magnesium alloy AZ31B

Abstract

Preparation of titanium film on magnesium substrate faces a challenge due to non-Fickian inter-diffusion between titanium and magnesium. Aluminum can build a bridge between titanium and magnesium. Al/Ti duplex coatings were deposited on magnesium alloy AZ31B using magnetron sputtering (MS). The low temperature diffusion bonding behavior of the Mg/Al/Ti coating was investigated through SEM and its affiliated EDS. The phase structure and critical load of the coatings were examined by means of XRD and scratch tests, respectively. The results demonstrated that the bonding strength was significantly improved after a post heat treatment (HT) at a temperature of 210°C. The diffusion mechanism of the interfaces of Mg/Al and Al/Ti in the coating was discussed based on the analysis of formation energy of vacancies and diffusion rates. The Al/Ti dual layer enhanced the corrosion resistance of the alloy. And the HT process further increased the corrosion resistance of the coated alloy. This result implies that a post HT at a lower temperature after MS is an effective approach to enhance the bonding strength and corrosion resistance of the Al/Ti film on Mg alloys.

Keywords

magnesium alloy / aluminum/titanium coating / magnetron sputtering (MS) / diffusion / bonding strength

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51241001), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (ZR2011 EMM004), Taishan Scholarship Project of Shandong Province (TS20110828), SDUST Research Fund (2014TDJH104), Joint Innovative Center for Safe and Effective Mining Technology and Equipment of Coal Resources, and Shandong Province. Thanks go to Dr. Jun CHEN, Dr. Donghua YANG and Dr. Zhenlin WANG in Chongqing University of Technology for the help in the sample preparation, corrosion and scratch tests.

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