Passive film formation in dilute ionic liquid solutions on magnesium Alloy AZ31

Chromate-Free Corrosion Protection Strategies for Magnesium Alloys-A Review: PART I-Pre-Treatment and Conversion Coating

Corrosion protection systems based on hexavalent chromium are traditionally perceived to be a panacea for many engineering metals including magnesium alloys. However, bans and strict application regulations attributed to environmental concerns and the carcinogenic nature of hexavalent chromium have driven a considerable amount of effort into developing safer and more environmentally friendly alternative techniques that provide the desired corrosion protection performance for magnesium and its alloys. Part I of this review series considers the various pre-treatment methods as the earliest step involved in the preparation of Mg surfaces for the purpose of further anti-corrosion treatments. The decisive effect of pre-treatment on the corrosion properties of both bare and coated magnesium is discussed. The second section of this review covers the fundamentals and performance of conventional and state-of-the-art conversion coating formulations including phosphate-based, rare-earth-based, vanadate, fluoride-based, and LDH. In addition, the advantages and challenges of each conversion coating formulation are discussed to accommodate the perspectives on their application and future development. Several auspicious corrosion protection performances have been reported as the outcome of extensive ongoing research dedicated to the development of conversion coatings, which can potentially replace hazardous chromium(VI)-based technologies in industries.

Surface coating from phosphonate ionic liquid electrolyte for the enhancement of the tribological performance of magnesium alloy

A chronoamperometric method has been applied for the growth of a surface coating on AZ31B magnesium alloy, using the imidazolium alkylphosphonate room-temperature ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethylphosphonate ([EMIM][EtPO3H]) as electrolyte. A surface coating layer is obtained after 4 h under a constant voltage bias of -0.8 V with respect to the standard electrode. The coating nucleation and growth process correlates well with a 3D progressive mechanism. X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS) analysis of [EMIM][EtPO3H] shows new P 2p and O 1s peaks after its use as electrolyte, as a consequence of reaction between the phosphonate anion and the magnesium substrate. Angle-resolved XPS (ARXPS) analysis of [EMIM][EtPO3H] did not show any change in the composition of the surface before and after chronoamperometry, since the sampling depth (1.5 nm at the highest emission angle) is larger than the cation and anion sizes (ca. 7 and 5 Å, respectively). Characterization of the coating was made by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focussed ion beam SEM, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, XPS, and ARXPS. FIB-SEM shows that the coating presents a mean thickness of 374 (±36) nm and contains magnesium and aluminum phosphates. Linear reciprocating tribological tests under variable load show that the presence of the coating can reduce friction coefficients of the coated AZ31B against steel up to 32% and wear rates up to 90%, with respect to the uncoated alloy.