Improvement of structural and mechanical properties of alumina coatings by incorporation of TiO 2 and α -Al 2 O 3 nanoadditives

Alumina coatings embedded with different nanoadditives were fabricated on aluminium alloy by microarc oxidation (MAO). Incorporation of nanograins into the prepared coatings was accomplished by dispersing nanoadditives into different electrolytes during the MAO process. Our results show that nanograins are successfully embedded in the ceramic coatings, and the embedded coatings are compact and have lower porosity. The mechanical properties of the nanograin embedded coatings such as hardness, adhesion and wear resistance are consequently improved, and the samples prepared in aluminate electrolyte with α-Al₂O₃ nanoadditive have better mechanical properties than those prepared in other electrolytes. Our results also show that the mechanical properties of MAO coatings are closely related to the surface structure. The introduction mechanism of nanograins into the ceramic coatings resulted from the reactions occurring in the microarc discharge channels such as diffusion and electrophoresis, which is believed to improve the structure of the prepared coatings.