An electrochemical study of the corrosion resistance of niobium-aluminum carbonitride coating produced on steels by thermo-reactive diffusion technique

Abstract

Thermo-reactive diffusion/deposition technique is an alternative to physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition techniques for obtaining wear and corrosion resistant coatings on steel parts. In this work, thermo-reactive diffusion/deposition technique was used to produce niobium aluminum carbonitride-based coatings on AISI M2 steel. Characterization of the coatings was done by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The corrosion resistance of the produced coatings was investigated by using potentiodynamic polarization in a solution of 0.5 M NaCl. Hard, compact and adherent coatings, mainly consisting of NbC and NbN phases were obtained. The corrosion behavior of the samples was investigation by potentiodynamic polarization measurements.