Corrosion resistance of an amino acid-bioinspired calcium phosphate coating on magnesium alloy AZ31

An L-cysteine-bioinspired calcium phosphate (Ca-P) coating is prepared upon magnesium alloy AZ31 in a water bath at 60 degrees C. FE-SEM, FTIR, XRD, electrochemical characterization, hydrogen evolution tests and XPS were used to evaluate the microstructure, chemistry and corrosion performance of the samples. Results indicate that L-cysteine promotes the nucleation process of the coating and significantly increases its thickness. This can be attributed to the complexation of the carboxyl group and mercapto group of L-cysteine with calcium ions. Indeed, the obtained Ca-P coating possesses higher corrosion resistance than that prepared in L-cysteine-free bath. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.