Characterisation of porous coatings formed on titanium under AC plasma electrolytic oxidation

Abstract

The Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) process may be used to fabricate porous coatings on titanium. The ranges of voltages used In case of these plasma treatments are different. It has been found that for DC PEO processing the voltage must be higher than that in the case of AC PEO treatment. In addition, the shape and frequency of the voltage signal have also an influence. In the paper scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GDEOS) were used to characterise obtained coatings. It was found that it is possible to obtain the porous coatings enriched with phosphorus and copper by use of AC-PEO at only 200 Vpp, while increasing the PEO voltage results in non-porous and cracked coatings. Based on GDEOS for 200 Vpp three sublayers were used, with ranges of 0-400, and 400-2400, and 2400-3600 seconds of sputtering time for first, and second, and transition sublayers respectively. XPS spectra for sample processed at 200 Vpp indicate in top 10 nm layer presence of titanium as Ti4+ and phosphorous as phosphates (most likely PO43–, HPO42–, H2PO4–, P2O73–).