Enhanced corrosion property of W-Al coatings fabricated on aluminum using surface alloying under high-current pulsed electron beam

Abstract With a high-current pulsed electron beam (HCPEB) irradiation on a pre-deposited W coating onto Al substrate, surface alloying of W-Al coating was realized to result in the improvement of corrosion resistance. W coating was deposited onto the Al surface using an air-pressurized spraying gun. The experimental results show that, the surface defects were formed on the surface layers after 15-pulsed irradiation. With increasing number of pulses, the corresponding size and density decreased and the surface became much smoother. Meanwhile, W particles were dissolved into the Al matrix and an alloying layer of about 10 μm in thickness was formed. The newly formed alloying layer was mainly composed of the ultrafine Al 4 W, W and Al as the major phases. The corrosion property of the HCPEB treated samples was dramatically enhanced due to the addition of W element and the modified microstructure.