Corrosion resistance of Al-Cu-Fe alloy powder coated with silica using an ultrasound-assisted sol-gel method

Al-Cu-Fe alloy powder, a high-effective lubrication oil additive, was coated by conventional sol-gel method employing tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the precursor for purpose of improving its corrosion resistance. The best condition was obtained according to an orthogonal experiment (L9(34)). Then, the sol-gel method was modified by employing ultrasound to study the effects of both the ultrasonic power and irradiation time on the coating process. Finally, the coated powder had an high corrosion resistance in the acid media of pH 1. The obtained samples were characterised by FTIR, XRD, SEM and EDS.