Corrosion behavior of zirconium diboride coated stainless steel in molten 6061 aluminum alloy

A zirconium diboride coating on 201 stainless steel prepared by electrodeposition in NaCI-KCI-K2ZrF6-KBF4 molten salts and the stability and corrosion mechanism of the stainless steel with and without ZrB2 coating in molten aluminum alloy at 800 degrees C are investigated by immersion tests. The results show that the stainless steels suffer severe corrosion by aluminum after only 2 h immersion, while the ZrB2-coated stainless steels show high corrosion resistance to aluminum attacks after 120 h immersion. It can be inferred that surface modification of stainless steel by electrodepositing ZrB2 coating in molten salts is an effective way to protect substrate materials from degeneration in molten aluminum. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.