Constructing Colorful Surfaces with Mechanical Robustness for Magnesium Alloys via a Reagent-Free Method

Abstract

The colorful and mechanically robust surfaces of metallic materials are important for their applications in electronics, automobile, aerospace, and so on, but it is challenging to prepare them at a reasonable cost. Herein, we propose a simple, environment-friendly, and cost-effective method, reagent-free hydrothermal treatment, to prepare colorful surfaces of magnesium alloys with mechanical robustness. The as-treated surface mainly composes of magnesium (hydr)­oxides with a biomimetic microstructure, whose thickness and roughness increase linearly with the hydrothermal time. By adjusting the hydrothermal time, a series of surface colors of magnesium alloys are obtained because of light interference. The as-treated surface with film thickness more than 1.1 μm exhibits high Vickers hardness (∼500 HV), low friction coefficient (∼0.26), and low wear rate (1.06 × 10–5 mm3·N–1·m–1), which is superior to most magnesium alloys after surface treatments. The microstructure of the as-treated surface can be retained after harsh tribological tests, demonstrating attractive mechanical robustness. Furthermore, the method proposed here was extended to the surface treatments of other series of magnesium alloys, which verifies the great potential of this method for large-scale industrial application of colorful metallic materials with mechanical robustness.

Superamphiphobic Magnesium Alloys with Extraordinary Environmental Adaptability

“…39,40 The high-resolution spectrum of O 1s (Figure 3d) can be divided into five components with the bonding energies of 532.6, 532.2, 531.9, 531.8, and 531.0 eV, corresponding to P−O, PO, −Si−O−, Mg−O, and Al−O, respectively. 41,42 The peak located at BE = 689.0 eV is ascribed to F 1s (Figure 3e), 43,44 confirming the existence of PFOTS in the coating. The Si 2p peak can be resolved into two components with binding energies of 105.5 and 102.5 eV (Figure 3f), which can be assigned to Si−O and Si−C bonding, respectively.…”

“…From the Mg 1s peak located at BE = 1303.3 eV (Figure a) and Al 2p peak located at BE = 75.8 eV (Figure b), , it can be deduced that the magnesium substrate reacts with AP and contributes to the formation of the coating. The high-resolution spectrum of P 2p (Figure c) can be resolved into two peaks at the bonding energies of 135.1 and 134.2 eV, corresponding to PO and P–O, respectively. , The high-resolution spectrum of O 1s (Figure d) can be divided into five components with the bonding energies of 532.6, 532.2, 531.9, 531.8, and 531.0 eV, corresponding to P–O, PO, −Si–O–, Mg–O, and Al–O, respectively. , The peak located at BE = 689.0 eV is ascribed to F 1s (Figure e), , confirming the existence of PFOTS in the coating. The Si 2p peak can be resolved into two components with binding energies of 105.5 and 102.5 eV (Figure f), which can be assigned to Si–O and Si–C bonding, respectively .…”

Biomimetic Designs for Automobile Engineering: A Review

“…• Self cleaning (lotus leaf [55], Photocatalysis [56], tear film of the human eye [57]) • Self healing (Human skin [67,68]) • Wetness resistance (surface of a biological organism [55]) • Scratch resistance (Mollusc shell [55]) • Color changing (Chameleon [83]) • Transparency (Human Eye [57]) • Corrosion resistance (petal of rad rose [61]) • Lubrication (Pitcher plant, Salvinia [62])…”

“…Therefore, extremely futuristic designs can be introduced by applying this technique to automobiles. Currently, literature provides evidence on research that modify microstructural properties of the magnesium alloys to obtain different colours in the surfaces while having rather robust mechanical properties [83]. However, there are more extensive approaches that can be initiated with this technology.…”

One-step hydrothermal preparation of corrosion-resistant coatings with microsphere structure

“…The methods described above either have the disadvantage of being complex and costly or not being quite efficient in preventing corrosion. Meanwhile the hydrothermal process is considered to be a candidate example for its simple procedure and effective results [15,16] and can usually be completed in one step [17].…”