Lifting Lightweight Metals to a New Level—Tribological Improvement by Hybrid Surface Solutions on Aluminium and Magnesium

Abstract

Nanocrystalline PEO (plasma electrolytical oxidation) coatings were performed on Al 6082 and Mg AZ31 alloys, resulting in hard, dense and wear-resistant surfaces to increase the wear resistance of those alloys. To soften the wear influence on the counter body side and to reduce friction in a tribological application, the high-performance polymer PEEK (poly-ether-ether-ketone) was added to the load-supporting PEO surface by a laser melting technique to avoid heat influence on the lightweight substrate. The usage of additives in the PEEK dispersion led to stable conditions in the tribological system by decreasing the wear on the coated substrate as well as the counter body to a minimum accompanied by a low coefficient of friction during the whole life-time. The adopted hybrid coating systems were characterized using laser scanning microscopy (LSM), secondary and back scattered electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). A pin-on-disc test was employed to analyze the wear behavior of the different PEO and hybrid coatings and the influences of these surfaces on the coefficient of friction.

Keywords

• lightweight
• PEO
• hybrid surfaces
• PEEK
• low friction
• polymer coatings