Interfacial bonding, corrosion, and wear behavior of Zr-based amorphous (Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5) alloy coatings prepared by plasma spraying technique

Abstract

In this study, zirconium-based amorphous coating (Zr-AMC), a high-performance coating for industrial equipment that could adapt to the operating conditions of the reaction kettle under high temperature and pressure, was prepared by plasma spraying on AISI 316L. The bonding strength, wear behavior and corrosion mechanism of the corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant coatings were analyzed in detail using coating tensile, friction wear, and electrochemical and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results reveal that the Zr-AMC coating has a uniform and dense structure, characterized by a high hardness of 689.92 HV and an elastic modulus of 181.98 GPa. Furthermore, the bond strength of the Zr-AMC coating on AISI 316L is 31.92 MPa. The corrosion rate of Zr-AMC coating is 0.056 mm·a−1 in 20 wt% H2SO4 solution, its corrosion resistance is six times that of AISI 316L, and the protection efficiency of Zr-AMC to AISI 316L is 82.15 %. Additionally, Zr-AMC has better corrosion resistance than Zr and Ti. The MD calculations reveal that the adsorption energy of H2SO4 molecules on Zr-AMC (−3.5 eV) is greater than that of AISI 316L (−17 eV). The binding energy of ZrO2 passivation film to Zr-AMC is higher than that of Cr2O3 passivation film and Fe, and the diffusion coefficient of oxygen atoms in ZrO2 (2.67 × 10−7 cm2s−1) is greater than that in Cr2O3 (1.5 × 10−9 cm2s−1). The Zr-AMC coating has a lower wear rate (1.24 × 10−7mm3N−1 mm−1) than that of Zr and Ti, and the wear mechanism is predominantly adhesive wear and fatigue wear. The development and preparation of Zr-AMC coating offer more material options for the use of reactors under extreme environmental conditions.