Investigation of Structural Properties and Wear Behavior of Surface Treated AZ31 Mg Alloy

Magnesium (Mg) and its alloys have a low density. For this reason, they are recognized as light metallic materials. Magnesium and its alloys have the potential capability to be widely used especially in the automotive, aviation and biomedical applications. However, their wear and corrosion resistance are very poor, so their area of usage is limited. This situation may adversely affect their usage without surface treatment despite their relatively well mechanical properties. Arc PVD technique was used to increase the wear resistance of AZ31 Mg alloy in this study. The surface coating process was applied to AZ31 Mg specimens as desired. Microstructural and morphological studies were done with XRD and SEM appliances. Pin-on-disc wear tests were performed to determine tribological properties. Through this study it was determined that AZ31 Mg alloy showed superior mechanical properties after applied CrN coating.