Electrochemical corrosion behaviour of plasma electrolytic oxidation coatings on AM50 magnesium alloy formed in silicate and phosphate based electrolytes

PEO coatings were produced on AM50 magnesium alloy by plasma electrolytic oxidation process in silicate and phosphate based electrolytes using a pulsed DC power source. The microstructure and composition of the PEO coatings were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The corrosion resistance of the PEO coatings was evaluated using open circuit potential (OCP) measurements, potentiodynamic polarisation tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 0.1 M NaCl solution. It was found that the electrolyte composition has a significant effect on the coating evolution and on the resulting coating characteristics, such as microstructure, composition, coating thickness, roughness and thus on the corrosion behaviour. The corrosion resistance of the PEO coating formed in silicate electrolyte was found to be superior to that formed in phosphate electrolyte in both the short-term and long-term electrochemical corrosion tests.