The Effects of Na2SiO3 Concentration on the Properties of Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation Coatings on 6060 Aluminum Alloy

Abstract

In this study, 6060 aluminum alloy was coated by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) process. The effect of sodium silicate concentration (A solution-7.5 g/L-B solution-15 g/L) on various morphological properties and corrosion resistance of the surface was investigated. The correlation between the microwave sintering of 6060 aluminum alloy coated by PEO and non-microwave sintering of 6060 aluminum alloy properties are discussed. Detailed estimation of the quality of the coated metal surface was performed by additional testing of chemical compositions by EDS, crystalline structure of the films was examined using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that the oxidation layer was of typical morphology for the PEO process. The porosity amount of 6060 aluminum sample coated with 15 g/L was obtained higher than that of 7.5 g/L. In addition to, the porosity of all coated samples was decreased with increasing microwave sintering time. The corrosion resistance of coated samples with microwave sintering process was better than non-microwave sintering of 6060 aluminum alloy.