Comparison of the corrosion behavior of AM60 Mg alloy with and without self-healing coating in atmospheric environment

Abstract

Coatings on the surface of Mg alloys are inevitably damaged during their practical applications, and corrosion can easily initiate from the damaged areas to accelerate the failure of Mg parts. A dual self-healing coating has already been developed to solve this problem in our previous work. Considering the practical application of this coating, it is necessary to investigate its service behavior in atmospheric environment. Thus, the corrosion behavior of AM60 Mg substrate with and without the self-healing coating was compared in Shenyang industrial atmospheric environment. The results show that the enrichment of sediments and rainwater on the scratch areas can accelerate the corrosion of the exposed Mg substrate. The inhibitors can be released from the damaged coating to inhibit corrosion. The dual self-healing coating shows better inhibition ability to narrow scratches due to the higher inhibitor concentration and less resumption. Also, the coating with wide scratches displays enough inhibition ability as well. The dual self-healing coating is a good alternative for Mg alloy parts in the practical applications.