Surface Modification of 304L Stainless Steel and Interface Engineering by HiPIMS Pre-Treatment

A clean and defect-free substrate/coating interface is required to guarantee good adhesion of coatings under service conditions. For this purpose, an etching pre-treatment using High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) was performed to modify the surface of 304L stainless steel. The effect of three etching procedures on the substrate properties, such as corrosion resistance and adhesion, was investigated with unprecedented spatial resolution and spectroscopic details. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction showed modification in phase content but no neoformation after steel etching. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the presence of etchant species (6–7 at.%) on the extreme surface of the substrate. Transmission Electron Microscopy and Atomic Probe Tomography showed that the interface was less than a few nanometers wide. Polarization curves in a nitric acid solution at boiling temperature showed, for the first time, that the Ti+ and Zr+ etchings decreased the corrosion current density compared to the untreated original surface. Scratch-test measurements indicated better substrate/coating adhesion using HiPIMS metal ion etching. Electrochemical characterization revealed that Zr etching and thin coating improve the anti-corrosion properties of stainless steel in strong nitric acid conditions.