Surface modifications of Al-based amorphous composite coatings on 7075 Al plate prepared by high-speed electrothermal explosion

AbstractAl-based amorphous ribbons have been prepared by the melt-spin method, and the amorphous composite coating has been prepared on the surface of 7075 Al alloy by Electro-Thermal Explosion Spray (EETS). The structure, microscopic features and compositional distribution of the coating have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) to study the coating's properties. The results demonstrated the amorphous/nanocrystalline nature of the composite coating and ascertained the metallurgical bonding between the coating and the substrate. The hardness of the coating (∼900 HV) was five times larger than that of the 7075 Al alloy (∼170 HV), and over twice than that of the Al based bulk metallic glass. This work confirms the good results of preparing coating on the surface of alloy 7075 by applying the amorphous material and EETS together, and provides the application of both amorphous coating and EETS simultaneously