The influence of prefinishing operations at titanium alloys on the characteristics of MAO coatings

Improving the reliability, service life and operational safety of titanium alloy structures exposed to thermal, chemical and mechanical stresses can be achieved by applying various protective coatings. One of the effective methods of protecting such alloys is the formation on their surface of oxide coatings that are resistant to external factors. Of great interest from this point of view is the method of micro-arc oxidation (MAO), which allows one to obtain multifunctional ceramic-like oxide coatings with unique properties. Such coatings can be used to create a durable heat and electrical insulating layer on parts, protect surfaces from erosion in high-speed gas flows, corrosion in aggressive environments and wear by friction, to increase the surface emissivity, etc. This method is well established for the oxidation of aluminum alloys. Despite the fact that the mechanism of coating formation during MAO is the same for aluminum and titanium alloys, there are certain differences in the structure and characteristics of the resulting coating. For example, it is believed that during the MAO treatment of aluminum alloys, preliminary surface preparation is not required and the adhesive strength is comparable with the strength of the substrate material. However, when processing titanium alloys, we noted cases of a significant decrease in adhesive strength. One of the reasons may be the lack of preliminary surface preparation before coating. Therefore, studies aimed at studying the influence of the method of surface preparation and the resulting roughness on the characteristics of the applied coatings are relevant.