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

One-component CeO2 coatings and bi-component CeO2/ZrO2 multilayer coatings were obtained by a sol gel process. The phase composition, surface morphology and roughness of the samples were studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray scanning electron microscopy (XPS). The corrosion resistance and protective ability were characterized by using salty solution of 3.5% NaCl at 25 C. The multilayer configuration of CeO2 and ZrO2 ensure enhanced protection of the steel in comparison to the single CeO2 coatings and uncoated steel. The surface morphology and anticorrosion properties depend significantly on the treatment temperature of both CeO2 underlayer and ZrO2 top layer. At lower treatment temperatures, they are relatively dense and smooth. The corrosion resistance of the multilayers slows down, when ZrO2 coatings were heated above 500oC. This probably is due to the more pronounced crystallization of cubic zirconium dioxide, resulting in deeper boundaries between the individual grains. The protective properties of a CeO2/ZrO2 multilayers could be attributed to the low crystallized structure with very fine crystallites.

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.