Morphology and wear resistance of composite coatings formed on a TA2 substrate using hot-dip aluminising and micro-arc oxidation technologies

Aluminium layers were coated onto the surface of pure titanium using hot-dip aluminising technology, and then the aluminium layers were in situ oxidised to form oxide ceramic coatings, using the micro-arc oxidation (MAO) technique. The microstructure and composition distribution of the hot-dip aluminium coatings and ceramic layers were studied by using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The phase structure of the MAO layers was studied using X-ray diffraction. The surface composition of the MAO layer was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The wear resistance of the pure titanium substrate and the ceramic layers coated on its surface were evaluated by using the ball-on-disc wear method. Therefore, aluminising coatings, which consist of a diffusion layer and a pure aluminium layer, could be formed on pure titanium substrates using the hot-dip aluminising method. The MAO method enabled the in-situ oxidation of hot-dip pure aluminium layers, which subsequently led to the formation of ceramic layers. Moreover, the wear resistance values of the ceramic layers were significantly higher than that of the pure titanium substrate.