Effect of aluminum coatings on corrosion properties of AZ31 magnesium alloy

This investigation aimed to increase the corrosion resistance of an AZ31 magnesium alloy by an aluminum arc spray coating and a post-treatment consisted of hot pressing and anodizing. It was found that the aluminum arc spraying alone was incapable of protection against corrosion due to the high amount of pores present in the coating layer. In order to solve the problem, densification of the Al arc-sprayed layer was carried out by hot pressing the coated AZ31 Mg alloy plate under an appropriate range of temperature, time and pressure. After hot pressing the Al coated AZ31 Mg alloy plate exhibited a much improved corrosion resistance. A final anodizing treatment applied to the AZ31 alloy with the dense Al coating further improved its resisting to corrosion. The results showed that, by adopting the Al arc spraying, hot pressing and anodizing process, the corrosion current density of the AZ31 alloy in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution was from 2.1x10(-6) A/cm(2) (original AZ31) to 3.7x10(-7) A/cm(2) (after the surface treatment), which value is close to that of an anodized aluminum plate.