The work within the project was started with the development of a power supply for the PEO treatment offering bipolar pulses, wide flexibility of processing parameters in combination with the recording of those parameters. This power supply is ready and has successfully passed the field-tests in the labs of project participants. In parallel to the development of power supply, the preliminary work on the synthesis and characterization of functional particles and containers was performed. Several inorganic nanostructured materials were prepared with the aim to introduce new and stable functionalities to PEO coatings. ‘Smart’ nanocontainers acting as host material for immobilization of active compounds were developed and prepared. The selected active compounds were corrosion inhibitors, commercial biocides and others. These materials were tested for their environmental impact and tried to be incorporated into PEO layers.
It was shown, that many functional materials are very sensitive and do not survive the plasma discharges. Briefly, the decomposition of the particles influences the PEO processing and mechanism of PEO coatings formation. From one hand, it can be considered as a negative result of the project, as original functionality of the particles can not be used in the resultant PEO layers. However, in frame of the project we have also discovered, that the decomposed particles can lead to beneficial properties of the resultant coatings. For example, it was demonstrated that the addition of LDH particles resulted in a significant increase of PEO surface and formation of foamy ceramic structure (Fig. 1e), beneficial for photocatalytic properties, but not very effective for «smart» corrosion protection [1].
[1] K. Mojsilović, M. Serdechnova, C. Blawert, M.L. Zheludkevich, S. Stojadinović, R. Vasilić, “In-situ incorporation of LDH particles during PEO processing of aluminium alloy AA2024”, Applied Surface Science, 654 (2024) 159450
