In the present investigation, the plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) process was employed to form aluminum oxide coating layers to enhance corrosion resistance properties of high-strength aluminum alloys. The formed protective coating layers were examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and characterized by several electrochemical techniques, including open circuit potential (OCP), linear potentiodynamic polarization (LP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results were reported in comparison with the bare 6061-O aluminum alloy to determine the corrosion performance of the coated 6061-O alloy. The PEO-treated aluminum alloy showed substantially higher corrosion resistance in comparison with the untreated substrate material. A relationship was found between the coating formation stage, process parameters and the thickness of the oxide-formed layers, which has a measurable influence on enhancing corrosion resistance properties. This study demonstrates promising results of utilizing PEO process to enhance corrosion resistance properties of high-strength aluminum alloys and could be recommended as a method used in industrial applications.

An innovative hybrid process combining two effective surface modification techniques, cold spray (CS) and friction stir processing (FSP), was proposed to refine the microstructure of Cu-Al-Ni-Al₂O₃ composite coating material. FSP was performed under constant rpm using extensive cooling conditions to remove heat generated during the operation. Microstructural characterizations such as optical micrography (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were performed to evaluate the microstructural evolution of the coatings before and after FSP treatment. Mechanical characterizations such as microhardness and elastic modulus were measured using micro-depth sensing techniques. Furthermore, sliding wear tests were performed to study the wear resistance of the as-sprayed and processed coatings. The findings suggest that after FSP, there is an improvement in microstructure of the coating layers with the elimination of particle boundaries, micro-pores and micro-cracks, and processed coatings showed an improvement in mechanical properties. Furthermore, there was a slight reduction in the wear rate of the deposited CuAlNi-Al₂O₃ composite coatings. Among all the test coatings, friction stir processed S1 coating showed the lowest wear rate, which was an almost two times lower wear rate than its unprocessed counterparts.