Self-lubricative coating grown by micro-plasma oxidation on aluminum alloys in the solution of aluminate–graphite

Abstract Aluminum trioxide ceramic coatings with high hardness were grown on surfaces of 2024 Aluminum alloys by micro-plasma oxidation in an aluminate electrolytic solution, which highly improve wear-resisting properties of 2024 Aluminum alloys. However, ceramic coating surfaces are porous and very coarse, which is disadvantageous to practical applications. In this paper, in order to increase the density of the pores and decrease the friction coefficient of the ceramic coatings, different concentrations (2–8 g/l) of graphite were added into the aluminate electrolytic solution. The thickness and hardness of the produced ceramic coatings were measured by HVS-100 micro-hardness tester and thickness tester. The friction coefficient of the coatings was studied by a frictionometer. The phase composition and surface morphology of the MPO films were evaluated through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results show that the thickness of the ceramic coating is about 22 ± 1 μm, surfaces of the ceramic coatings are very uniform and that the coatings consist of mainly aluminum trioxides and a certain amount of graphite, which indicates graphite have entered the ceramic films during the micro-plasma oxidation process. Wear properties results show that the friction coefficient of the ceramic coatings decreased when graphite entered the ceramic films. When the concentration of graphite is 4 g/l, the wear properties of the coatings is the most excellent and the friction coefficient decreases to the lowest, that is 0.09.