Understanding Growth mechanism of PEO coating using two-step oxidation process

A two-step oxidation method was applied on Al6061 to debate the growth mechanism of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) coating. The specimens were first oxidized in the primary electrolyte solution {$Na_3PO_4$ (8g/l), NaOH (2g/l), consequently, the specimens were transferred into a different electrolyte {$K_2ZrF_6$ (8g/l), NaOH (2g/l), $Na_2SiF_6$ (0.5g/l)} for further oxidation. The processes was conducted for various processing times. It was found the second step electrolyte component were reached to inner layers, in contrast to the primary step components which were thrustle to the outer layer. The presence of the secondary component in the inner layers were significantly varied with processing time which suggest the change in growth properties with processing time. further more the inside growth of the secondary component confirmed the increasing trend in the downward growth of the coating layer. The corrosion and hardness properties of the coatings were found highly improved with change in growth features with increasing the processing time.