Fabrication of enhanced corrosion protection of PEO/PFOTES nanocomposite film coatings on aluminum alloy deposited by plasma electrolytic oxidation

In this study, PEO/PFOTES nanocomposite film was synthesized by Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) followed by 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-Perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (PFOTES) sealing on Al 6061 alloys by dip-coating method. The relationship between surface morphology, coating thickness, and surface wettability of PEO samples and siloxane sealed samples were examined by FE-SEM and contact angle techniques. Furthermore, corrosion resistance of PEO coating and siloxane sealed samples were confirmed by Potential dynamic polarization and corrosion stability analysis in 3.5% NaCl solution. In conclusion, PFOTES sealing has the effect of changing the surface to super-hydrophobic, increasing corrosion resistance, and lowering corrosion rate. The 10P siloxane-coated sample shows the lowest corrosion rate, 4.916 × 10-5 mm/year, with a lower current density. In addition, the corrosion study also confirmed the excellent corrosion stability of PEO/PFOTES nanocomposite film over 864 h.