Composition and corrosion resistance of cerium conversion films on 2195Al-Li alloy

The Ce conversion films on 2195Al-Li alloy without and with post-treatment were studied and the corrosion resistance was evaluated as well. The surface morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the chemical composition was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The corrosion behaviors of 2195Al-Li alloy and conversion coating were assessed by means of potentiodynamic polarization curves. The experimental results indicated that after post-treatment the surface quality was improved significantly. According to XPS, the conversion coating after post-treatment was mainly composed of CeO2, Ce2O3, Ce-OH and a little MoO3 and MoO2. The results of potentiodynamic polarization curves revealed that the conversion coating with post-treatment possessed better corrosion resistance than bare alloy and Ce conversion coating without post-treatment.