Application of some inhibitors for improving the corrosion resistance of ceramic coatings deposited on non-alloy steel by short-pulse laser treatment

Short-pulse laser treatment was used to deposit boron carbide and nitride-based ceramic coatings on a non-alloy steel surface.The coatings thus obtained show promising properties in terms of high hardness, wear resistance, adhesion to the substrate, and low coefficient of friction.In parallel, the coatings obtained were characterized by reduced corrosion resistance in a model borate buffer solution and under conditions of recurrent water vapor condensation in a thermal humidity chamber.Preliminary treatment of samples with solutions of some inhibitors made it possible to reduce anodic currents substantially in potentiodynamic experiments.The addition of benzotriazole, mercaptobenzothiazole, and potassium dichromate proved to be effective.Electrochemical and atmospheric corrosion tests revealed that preliminary exposure of the samples to solutions of the inhibitors indicated above made it possible to reduce the corrosion rate significantly compared to the untreated samples.Potassium dichromate occurred to be most effective.