Structure, corrosion, and hardness properties of Ti/Al multilayers coated on NdFeB by magnetron sputtering

Ti/Al multilayers deposited on sintered NdFeB magnets by direct current magnetron sputtering with ionbeam assistance were studied in this report. Ti layers with a hexagonal close packed structure were obtained in the Ti/Al multilayers. The columnar structure growth of Al layers was successfully interrupted by the intercalated Ti layers. The Ti/Al multilayers showed more compact and uniform surfaces than the Al single layer. The corrosion current densities of the sintered NdFeB magnets coated with Ti/Al multilayers were much lower than that of the Al single layer. The Ti/AI multilayers also presented improved hardness. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.