Investigation of Growth Mechanism of Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation Coating on Al-Ti Double-Layer Composite Plate

The aluminum–titanium (Al-Ti) double-layer composite plate is a promising composite material, but necessary surface protection was required before its application. In this paper, plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) was employed to fabricate a ceramic coating on the surface of a Al-Ti double-layer composite plate. To investigate the coating growth mechanism on the Al-Ti double-layer composite plate, a single-Al plate and a single-Ti plate were introduced for comparison experiments. Results showed that, the composite of Al and Ti accelerated the coating growth rate on the part-Ti portion of the composite plate, and that of the part-Al portion was decreased. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis indicated that the equivalent circuit of the Al-Ti coating was formed by connecting two different circuits in parallel. The reaction behavior revealed that the electric energy during the PEO would leak from the circuit with the weaker blocking effect, and confirmed that the electric energy distribution followed the law of low-resistance distribution. Finally, the mechanism was extended to the PEO treatment on general metal matrix composites to broaden the application theory of the technology.