Mechanical and Corrosion Resistance Enhancement of Closed-Cell Aluminum Foams through Nano-Electrodeposited Composite Coatings

This work aims to improve the properties of aluminum foams including the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance by electrodepositing a SiC/TiN nanoparticles reinforced Ni–Mo coating on the substrate. The coatings were electrodeposited at different voltages, and the morphologies of the coating were detected by SEM (scanning electron microscope) to determine the most suitable voltage. We used XRD (x-ray diffraction) and TEM (transmission electron microscope) to analyze the structure of the coatings. The aluminum foams and the substrates on which the coatings were electrodeposited at a voltage of 6.0 V for different electrodeposition times were compressed on an MTS (an Electro-mechanical Universal Testing Machine) to detect the mechanical properties. The corrosion resistance before and after the electrodeposition experiment was also examined. The results showed that the coating effectively improved the mechanical properties. When the electrodeposition time was changed from 10 min to 40 min, the W(v) of the aluminum foams increased from 0.852 J to 2.520 J and the σ(s) increased from 1.06 MPa to 2.99 MPa. The corrosion resistance of the aluminum foams was significantly improved after being coated with the Ni–Mo–SiC–TiN nanocomposite coating. The self-corrosion potential, pitting potential, and potential for primary passivation were positively shifted by 294 mV, 99 mV, and 301 mV, respectively. The effect of nanoparticles on the corrosion resistance of the coatings is significant.