Influences of Calcination Ambiences on Morphologies, Phase Composition and Contents of the Elements of Ceramic Coatings on Ti Alloy by Micro-Arc Oxidation

Compound ceramic coatings with the main crystal phase of Al2TiO5 (as-coated samples) were prepared in situ on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by means of pulsed bi-polar micro-arc oxidation (MAO) in an NaAlO2 solution. The coated samples were calcined in argon and air at 1000 oC, respectively. The phase composition, surface and section morphology, and element contents of the ceramic coatings were investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). The samples were treated in argon and the as-coated ones were calcined in air at 1000 oC to study the anti-oxidation properties of the samples. The results show that Al2TiO5 had been decomposed in an hour and transformed into α-Al2O3 and rutile TiO2 in air. However, Al2TiO5 had been decomposed in four hours in argon and the final coating surface was completely composed of α-Al2O3. The content of Al2O3 was decreased from outside to inside layers and Ti2O3 was formed in the coating. Furthermore, the morphology of the ceramic coatings after the calcination was different. The coatings calcined in argon were finer; the grains and pores were smaller than those in air.