Insight into anticorrosion/antiwear behavior of inorganic-organic multilayer protection system composed of nitriding layer and epoxy coating with Ti3C2Tx MXene

Abstract A single protective coating is difficult to fulfill the applications’ requirement of antiwear and anticorrosion in an aggressive environment. The synergy of plasma nitriding technique and epoxy composite coating is effective strategy to protect the aluminium (Al) alloys from corrosion and wear. To achieve the long-term corrosion and wear resistance for Al alloys, an inorganic-organic multilayer protection system composed of nitriding layer and Ti3C2Tx/epoxy coating was prepared and its protection properties were evaluated in detail. The results demonstrated that the electrochemical impedance was enhanced by two orders of magnitude during 4 weeks of immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution and the wear rate was decreased by 96.26%. The following reasons can account for the results: (a) the nitriding layer with high hardness served as a shield against outside invasion; (b) Ti3C2Tx/epoxy coating with a physical barrier network could repair the surface defects of nitriding layer; (c) the mechanical interlocking improved the interaction between nitriding layer and Ti3C2Tx/epoxy coating; (d) the lubrication of Ti3C2Tx flakes relieved the shear force. Therefore, the inorganic-organic multilayer protection system was expected to be a promising candidate for anticorrosion and antiwear applications.