Dry sliding wear behaviour of plasma electrolytic oxidation coated AZ91 cast magnesium alloy

A cast AZ91 magnesium alloy was plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) coated using a pulsed unipolar power source in a silicate based electrolyte. Constant processing conditions for two different durations were chosen to obtain coatings of 10 and 20 μm thickness. The dry sliding wear studies performed on this alloy with and without PEO coatings against an AISI 52100 steel ball counterpart showed that the PEO coating improved the wear resistance. The thickness of the PEO coating was found to be highly influential in imparting the wear resistance to this alloy, especially in conditions involving higher contact stresses.