Formation of a novel nanocrystalline coating on AZ31 magnesium alloy by bias sputtering

A novel protective coating was deposited on AZ31 magnesium alloy by bias sputtering with a Ti/Al composite target in this study. It was determined by the analysis of EDS and XRD that the coating was mainly composed of Ti3Al phase. The calculation, based on the Scherrer formula, further revealed the formation of nanocrystalline structure in the coating. SEM and AFM observations showed that the coating was compact and no obvious columnar structure occurred. In corrosion tests, it was found that the coating was more cathodic than the AZ31 substrate and had a good corrosion resistance in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Accordingly, the AZ31 substrate was protected by this obtained coating.