Several aluminum-based coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering Physical Vapor Deposition
were tested as an alternative solution to chromium, nickel and zinc-based coatings in order to protect
efficiently steel from corrosion. The objective of this study is to define the corrosion parameters of
different Al-Zn compositions with a zinc content varying from 3 at.% to 19 at.% and to study the
behavior of interesting compositions during an immersion test in NaCl 5 wt.% solution.
The results show that the corrosion behavior depends on the zinc content. Below a specific value of
zinc content, in the range between 10 at.% and 16 at.%, the alloys suffer from pitting corrosion.
Above 16 at.% Zn, the corrosion is uniform. Besides, the reactivity increases with zinc content while
the open circuit potential shifts toward more negative values and gets closer to the pure zinc open
circuit potential in this medium. For the samples showing a uniform corrosion, the immersion test
reveals that they provide a good protection to steel during the immersion period.
These alloys present very interesting properties for steel protection, when the zinc content is high
enough to have uniform corrosion. Nevertheless, the zinc content has to be well defined in order to
avoid a high dissolution of the coating.
Keywords : Corrosion, Al-Zn, magnetron sputtering, sacrificial coatings