Abstract
Being the 7th most abundant element on the earth, magnesium and its alloys have become very promising in numerous industrial applications because of some of their distinguished properties, including high thermal conductivity, high strength/weight ratio, good machinability etc. However, some inferior properties especially the poor wear and corrosion resistance have obstructed a widespread use. As one of the most effective solutions, thermal spraying can deposit an adequate protective coating on the substrate, but the necessary grit-blasting operation before spraying leads to high grit-residues on the magnesium surface therefore degrading the deposit performance. The PROTAL® process, combining a laser surface preparation with the deposition stage, can avoid this kind of disadvantage. This paper presents the possibility of employing PROTAL® to prepare a resistant Ni-Cr coating on a magnesium substrate. The coating adhesion and interface microstructure were especially investigated.