Coating formation on Ti-6Al-4V alloy by Micro Arc Oxidation in molten salt

Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO) is an electrochemical surface treatment process to produce oxide protective coatings on some metals. MAO is usually conducted in an aqueous electrolyte, which requires an intensive bath cooling and leads to the formation of a coating containing impurities that originate in the electrolyte. In the current work, we applied an alternative ceramic coating to the Ti-6Al-4V alloy using the MAO process in molten nitrate salt at a temperature of 280 °C. The obtained coating morphology, chemical and phase composition, and corrosion resistance were investigated and described. The obtained results showed that a coating of 2.5 μm was formed after 10 min of treatment, containing titanium oxide and titanium-aluminum intermetallic phases. Morphological examination indicated that the coating is free of cracks and contains round, homogeneously distributed pores. Corrosion resistance testing indicated that the protective oxide coating on Ti alloy is 20 times more resistive than the untreated alloy.