Friction and corrosion resistance of sputter deposited supersaturated metastable aluminium-molybdenum alloys

Two closed field unbalanced magnetrons with targets of aluminium and molybdenum have been used for the co-deposition of aluminium-molybdenum coatings with different compositions. A pin on disk machine and a computer controlled potentiostat have been used to evaluate respectively, the tribological and corrosion properties of the deposited alloys. Results have shown that introducing molybdenum into aluminium coatings improves their poor tribological properties. Aluminium-molybdenum coatings with different compositions have shown low wear behaviour and for coatings with high molybdenum contents (>80%) friction coefficients against steel, as low as 0.18 have been obtained. The addition of molybdenum into aluminium coatings has reduced their corrosion tendency and corrosion current density in a marine environment.