The Al₂O₃-13 wt.% TiO₂ (AT13) composite coatings were prepared on Q235 steel by plasma spray technique. The spray parameters were designed by the orthogonal experiments, and the properties of the coating were evaluated. Results showed that with respect to the bond strength of the coating, the optimized spraying parameters were the plasma current of 530 A, Ar flow of 41 L/min, H₂ flow of 10 L/min, and spray standoff distance of 100 mm. The plasma spray process led to the transition of α-Al₂O₃ to γ-Al₂O₃, resulting in the increase in the porosity of AT13 coating prepared at nonoptimized parameters. Meanwhile, the porosity and cracks were also increased due to the decrease in the Ar flow and the increase in spray standoff distance. The low porosity, a few cracks, and the uniformly dispersed TiO₂ particles contributed the enhanced properties including mechanical and corrosion behaviors of the AT13 coating prepared at optimized parameters. The bond strength, microhardness, and thermal shock resistance of the AT13 coating could reach 25.01 MPa, 1000.6 HV_0.5, and 40 times when the coating was prepared at optimized parameters, respectively. Especially, the static I_corr of the AT13 coating prepared at optimized parameters was two order of magnitude less than that of Q235 steel. In addition, the erosion weight loss of Q235 steel could be decreased about 30 times by the protection of the AT13 coating.

The electrodeposition technique was used to fabricate graphene and Cr particle-reinforced Ni–Cr–graphene coatings. The Rietveld refinement was utilized to analyze the microstructure of Ni deposits in the coatings. The properties including micro-hardness and corrosion behaviors of the coatings were also tested. Results showed that the addition of graphene particles contributed to the dendrite like structure on the surface of the Ni–Cr–graphene coating. The crystallite size and [200] texture of the Ni deposits in the Ni–Cr–graphene coatings were significantly decreased by the graphene particles. The crystallite size of 149.8 nm in the Ni-25–Cr-0–graphene coating was reduced to 35 nm in the Ni-25–Cr-8–graphene coating due to the addition of 8 g/L graphene to the electrolyte. The microstructure evolution of the Ni–Cr–graphene coatings brought about an enhancement in micro-hardness and corrosion resistance of the coatings. The micro-hardness of the coatings was improved from 260.1 HV_0.2 of the pure Ni coating to 285.9 HV_0.2 of the Ni-25–Cr-0–graphene coating and continually to 461.8 HV_0.2 of the Ni-25–Cr-8–graphene coating. In corrosion solution (3.5 wt.% NaCl), the corrosion current (6.22 μA/cm²) of the Ni-25–Cr-0–graphene coating could be decreased by about an order of magnitude through the addition of graphene particles, which was 0.33 μA/cm² for the Ni-25–Cr-8–graphene coating.