Resistance performance of nanocomposite coatings on Al alloys

Various international organisations are adopting and enforcing regulatory measures that are getting stricter yearly to minimise automotive emissions. Therefore, steel components in automobiles are being replaced with light metals such as aluminum as a means to minimise emission.

Though aluminum’s major advantage is its high strength to weight ratio, it does suffer high wear and corrosion in automotive operations. Therefore, the aim of a present research is to synthesise graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) reinforced Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) nanocomposite coatings on AA2028 Al alloy substrate to provide both wear and corrosion protection.

Uniform nanocomposite coating

To achieve uniform nanocomposite coating, GNPs and UHMWPE were solution mixed and deposited using the electrostatic spray method. The results showed that UHMWPE/ 1 wt. % GNPs coating performed best in terms of friction and wear rate reduction while UHMWPE/ 2 wt. % GNPs coating provided the highest corrosion resistant performance in 3.5 % NaCl solution.

The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 151, February 2021.