Research Projects

The project aims to improve corrosion resistance of the widely used AZ31 wrought magnesium alloy by applying plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) coating, sealing it with layered double hydroxide (LDH), and loading it with inhibitors. The inhibitors must be capable of being intercalated into the LDH structure grown on PEO coated AZ31 magnesium alloy, effective on magnesium surfaces enriched with aluminium and zinc, and environmentally friendly. Magnesium alloys are a crucial group of engineering materials with potential applications in biomedical, transportation, and 3C industries. The proposed method involves growing LDH on AZ31 magnesium alloy, optimizing treatment parameters, and aiming to produce LDH-NO3, which can be further loaded with corrosion inhibitors. The optimum inhibitor/s will be selected from this exercise and applied to PEO coated AZ31 alloy. The project aims to produce a PEOLDHinhibitor coating on AZ31 alloy, which is expected to be at least 20 more corrosion resistant than only PEO coating on AZ31 alloy. The project aims to overcome the challenge of screening proper inhibitors, intercalating them into LDH nanocontainers, and overall system functioning.