International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

In this paper we present the results of atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization of the surface morphology of the nanostructured titanium oxide films featuring with Sm2O3 by the sol-gel method in order to increase the corrosion resistance of stainless steel. Two types of titanium precursors were applied – titanium (IV) isopropoxide Ti[OCH(CH3)2]4 and titanium(IV) butoxide Ti(OCH2CH2CH2CH3)4.

Sol gel TiO2-ZrO2 composite films were dip coated on stainless steel substrates and treated at 300, 400 and 500oC. The morphology and surface features were examined by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Xray diffraction analyses (XRD) was applied to investigate the phase composition. The corrosion resistances of the coatings were studied by evaluation of the weight loss in NaCl medium. According to XRD while the Zr-Ti composites are amorphous after treatment even at 500oC. The surfaces of the coatings possess typical island structure. The coatings, treated at 500oC ehxibit higher corrosion resistance than the other two type of samples. This could be explained by the amorphous structure of the composites, which lowers ion and electron conduction, high hydrophobicity and lower oxygen content.