Study of the corrosion behavior of the graphene-coated ZK60A magnesium alloy, using scanning electrochemical microscopy
Magnesium alloys are interesting materials for several applications due to their good strength to weight ratio. However, corrosion susceptibility limits their widespread use. Among the magnesium alloys, the ZK60 (Mg-Zn-Zr) magnesium alloy stands out for its excellent combination of strength and ductility at room temperature. One strategy to improve the Mg alloys corrosion resistance is using surface coatings, such as graphene and its derivatives based coatings, which have been shown to be efficient and low cost in magnesium alloys. The use of electrochemical scanning techniques has become frequent for corrosion studies and among the available techniques, scanning electrochemical microscopy stands out for provide a local and high-resolution electrochemical evaluation in magnesium alloys. The present work aim at, through electrochemical impedance, potentiodynamic polarization and scanning electrochemical microscopy tests, to study the corrosion behavior of ZK60A magnesium alloy coated with graphene oxide, using silane as a coupling agent. Up to now, using electrochemical impedance and potentiodynamic polarization tests in a 3.5%w NaCl solution, the corrosion behavior of the alloy without treatment and under surface pretreatment conditions, immersed in 3M NaOH and 5% APTES. The obtained results showed that there is an increase in corrosion resistance in the pre-treatment conditions, when compared to the condition without treatment.