Eu-substituted hydroxyapatite/silica sol-gel treatment for corrosion protection of AZ31 magnesium alloy

Abstract

Europium-hydroxyapatite (Eu-HA) nanocomposite was developed via continuous hydrothermal synthesis. Eu+3 ions partially replaced the Ca+2 ions within hydroxyapatite molecular structure. High quality Eu-HA nanorods of 20 nm width and 6 μm lengths were verified via TEM micrographs. Eu-HA maintained the crystalline structure of HA with minimum change; material studio software confirmed the partial replacement of Ca+2 by Eu+3. XPS analysis demonstrated Eu+3 content of 6.91 atom %. Ca/P ratio was found to be 1.405 and 0.118 for virgin HA and Eu-HA respectively; this was ascribed to the partial replacement of Ca+2 with Eu +3. The EDAX mapping verified the uniform dispersion of Eu ions within Eu-HA structure. Eu-HA nanocomposite was uniformly distributed in silica sol-gel matrix; subsequently it was applied on AZ31 magnesium alloy. The corrosion performance of Eu-HA sol-gel coating nanocomposite (Eu–S) was evaluated using different electrochemical techniques including Potentiodynamic Polarization (PDP), Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscope (EIS), and Electrochemical Noise (EN) in aerated 0.1 M NaCl solution. Corrosion protection was assessed to that of neat silica sol-gel coating (NSG). Pitting was detected over the whole NSG coated sample, after few hours of immersion in the corrosive solution. EuS coated AZ31 withstand up to 144 h without any sign of corrosion or delamination. EIS analysis with PDP parameters suggested the formation of protective layer; that is responsible for the corrosion resistance. Europium has unique ability to form a protective oxide layer acting as a barrier layer that could prevent the penetration of corrosive electrolyte to the underlying metal substrate.