Conventional plasma electrolytic oxidation treatments produce oxide coatings with micron-scale discharge pores, resulting in insulation and wear and corrosion resistance far below that expected of highly dense Al₂O₃ coatings. The introduction of cathodic polarization during the plasma electrolytic oxidation process, especially when the applied cathode-to-anode current ratio (Rpn) is greater than 1, triggers a unique plasma discharge phenomenon known as “soft sparking”. The soft spark discharge mode significantly improves the densification of the anode ceramic layer and facilitates the formation of the high-temperature α-Al₂O₃ phase within the coating. Although the soft spark discharge phenomenon has been known for a long time, the growth behavior of the coating under its discharge mode still needs to be studied and improved. In this paper, the growth behavior of the coating before and after soft spark discharge is investigated with the help of the micro-morphology, phase composition and element distribution of a homemade fixture. The results show that the ceramic layer grows mainly along the oxide–electrolyte direction before the soft spark discharge transformation; after the soft spark discharge, the ceramic layer grows along the oxide–substrate direction. It was also unexpectedly found that, under soft spark discharge, the silicon element only exists on the outside of the coating, which is caused by the large size and slow migration of SiO₃²⁻, which can only enter the ceramic layer and participate in the reaction through the discharge channel generated by the strong discharge. In addition, it was also found that the relative phase content of α-Al₂O₃ in the coating increased from 0.487 to 0.634 after 10 min of rotary spark discharge, which is an increase of 30.2% compared with that before the soft spark discharge transition. On the other hand, the relative phase content of α-Al₂O₃ in the coating decreased from 0.487 to 0.313 after 20 min of transfer spark discharge, which was a 55.6% decrease compared to that before the soft spark discharge transformation.

In this study, we successfully employed the plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) technique to create a uniform white ceramic layer on the surface of the 6061 aluminum alloy using K₂ZrF₆ and Na₂WO₄ as colorants. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the coatings, and we used an electrochemical workstation to test their corrosion protection properties. The corrosion resistance of the coatings was analyzed using potentiodynamic polarization curves. The results showed that K₂ZrF₆ addition whitened the coating with ZrO₂ as the main phase composition, inhibiting Al substrate depletion and enhancing coating corrosion resistance. A small amount of Na₂WO₄ decreased the coating’s L* value, successfully constructing ceramic coatings with L* (coating brightness) values ranging from 70 to 86, offering broad application prospects for decorative coatings.

The correlation between negative pulse and the black electrolyte properties of magnesium alloy micro-arc oxidation and the treated area was investigated by introducing a negative pulse electric field. The physical phase composition, microstructure, elemental distribution, and content of the coating were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed that the introduction of negative pulses favored the generation of MgO and MgSiO₃ contents in the coatings, and an increase in the MgO phase was found in the coatings formed in the failed electrolytes; the microporous size and microcracks of the coatings were gradually and significantly reduced; the average consumption of Cu ions was 0.0453 g/L·dm², which is only 26% of that in the unipolar condition; the introduction of the negative pulses significantly improved the “anomalous consumption” of Cu ions. The introduction of negative pulse can significantly improve the “abnormal consumption” of copper ions, which is attributed to the change in the electric field by negative pulse, which makes the cathode-enriched Cu ions migrate to the anode and reduces the reduction and precipitation of Cu ions at the cathode.

Silver-doped graphite-like carbon (Ag-GLC) coatings were prepared on the surface of aluminum alloy and single-crystal silicon by magnetron sputtering under different deposition parameters. The effects of silver target current and deposition temperature, as well as of the addition of CH₄ gas flow, on the spontaneous escape behavior of silver from the GLC coatings were investigated. Furthermore, the corrosion resistance of the Ag-GLC coatings were evaluated. The results showed that the spontaneous escape phenomenon of silver could take place at the GLC coating, regardless of preparation condition. These three preparation factors all had an influence on the size, number and distribution of the escaped silver particles. However, in contrast with the silver target current and the addition of CH₄ gas flow, only the change in deposition temperature had a significant positive effect on the corrosion resistance of the Ag-GLC coatings. The Ag-GLC coating showed the best corrosion resistance when the deposition temperature was 500 °C, which was due to the fact that increasing the deposition temperature effectively reduced the number of silver particles escaping from the Ag-GLC coating.