Superhydrophobic and Self-Healing Mg-Al Layered Double Hydroxide/Silane Composite Coatings on the Mg Alloy Surface with a Long-Term Anti-corrosion Lifetime

Both a superhydrophobic structure and layered double hydroxide (LDH) coating were effective to improve the corrosion resistance of alloys. In this study, a superhydrophobic composite coating based on LDHs was constructed on Mg alloy by laser treatment, in situ growth of Mg-Al LDHs, and modification with octadecyl-trimethoxy-silane (OTS). The so-obtained composite coating was coded as L-LDHs-OTS, where L stands for laser treatment. Results showed that the L-LDHs-OTS composite coating presented the best anti-corrosion performance and the corrosion current density was reduced by about 5 orders of magnitude compared with that of the Mg alloy substrate. The excellent corrosion resistance was related to the superhydrophobicity of the composite coating, the compactness and ion-exchange capacity of the LDH layer, and the dense Si-O-Si network within the OTS layer. Moreover, the L-LDHs-OTS composite coating was still effective after 20 days of immersion tests, showing good long-term corrosion resistance due to the existence of hydrophobicity of the composite coating and the self-healing ability of LDHs.

Automated summary

A superhydrophobic composite coating based on LDHs was constructed on Mg alloy through laser treatment, in situ growth of LDHs, and modification with OTS, showing excellent corrosion resistance and long-term stability. This was attributed to the superhydrophobicity, compactness, ion-exchange capacity of LDH layer, and dense Si-O-Si network within the OTS layer.