Research Progress of Metal Coatings on the Surface of Magnesium Alloy

A review is provided of the research progress of technology for preparing metal coatings on the surface of Mg alloy,where metal coatings such as Ti coating,Zn coating and Al coating,as well as alloy coatings such as Zn-Al coating and Ni-P coating are covered. It is pointed out that Mg alloy possesses good mechanical properties,but its poor corrosion resistance hinders its wide application. This drawback,fortunately,could be overcome by introducing proper coating and / or plating onto the surface of Mg alloy. In the meantime, it is demonstrated that,in terms of future directions of the technologies for preparing coating and / or plating on Mg alloy substrate,more efforts should be made to modify the pretreatment process,to optimize bath composition,and to develop multi-element alloy coating and composite coating. Besides,it is suggested that multifunctional coatings possessing good corrosion resistance and wear resistance as well as high hardness should be focused on in future study of the technology for fabricating coating and / or plating on Mg alloy substrate.