Influence of sodium pentaborate (B5H10NaO13) additive in plasma electrolytic oxidation process on WE43 magnesium alloys

In recent years, the effects of adding various nanoparticles and chemicals dissolved in electrolytes to these chemicals have been investigated. In this paper, the idea of the effect of the sodium pentaborate (B5H10NaO13) in the NaAlO2 + KOH electrolyte PEO coating on the WE43 magnesium alloy was proposed. The tribological and corrosion properties of the grown coatings were investigated. Coating morphology, tribological properties, adhesion, and corrosion properties of the grown coatings were investigated by using SEM-EDS, ball-on-disc wear testing, scratch testing, and potentiodynamic corrosion testing. The results evidence that B5H10NaO13 additive, grown on magnesium substrate, supports the formation of hard oxide compounds such as MgAl2O4 center dot BxOy. These structures grown on the WE43 alloy were determined to provide similar corrosion protection with non-additive PEO coatings and approximately 30 times lower wear rate than non-additive PEO coatings. Experimental results evidence the B5H10NaO13 can be used as an electrolyte additive to the PEO process in the field of advanced functional coating materials for tribological applications.