JP2011106024A - Method for surface treatment of magnesium or magnesium alloy by anodization - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for the surface treatment of magnesium or a magnesium alloy by anodization to form an anodized oxide coating on the magnesium or magnesium alloy. <P>SOLUTION: The method of surface treatment by anodizing comprises: a pretreatment step of removing impurities and an oxide layer present on the surface of magnesium or a magnesium alloy using a strongly alkaline aqueous solution; and a micro-arc plasma anodization step of immersing the pre-treated magnesium or magnesium alloy in an alkaline electrolyte and applying a direct current having a current density of 3 A/dm<SP>2</SP>or less to the electrolyte to form a magnesium oxide coating. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a surface treatment method for improving the corrosion resistance of magnesium or a magnesium alloy. More specifically, the present invention uses an environmentally friendly electrolyte containing no environmental pollutants such as chromium and manganese components. The present invention relates to an environmentally friendly surface treatment method for magnesium or a magnesium alloy, which is a source of fulminant wastewater and has improved corrosion resistance and paint adhesion as a base for painting.

  In general, magnesium is known as the sixth most abundant metal on earth, and its specific gravity is about 2/3 that of aluminum. It is the lightest of all commonly used metals and has excellent specific strength (strength / specific gravity). It has advantages such as proof stress, excellent electromagnetic shielding properties, and excellent vibration adsorption power. Because of these advantages, magnesium alloys are widely applied to automotive parts such as housings, oil fans, seat frames, portable notebook computers, mobile phone cases, leisure and sports equipment, advanced aerospace materials, etc. Or such applications have been attempted.

  Magnesium alloys have many excellent advantages, but are disadvantageous in that they are vulnerable to alkalis and acids because they are metals that have a high tendency to be activated. Therefore, when magnesium or a magnesium alloy is exposed to a corrosive environment, serious galvanic corrosion proceeds. Therefore, an organic or inorganic coating excellent in corrosion resistance is always required on the surface of magnesium or magnesium alloy.

  As the surface treatment method of the magnesium alloy, there are a dry coating method and a wet coating method. In the dry coating method, vapor deposition plating in a vacuum is difficult due to a high vapor pressure, and there are many restrictions due to limitations of working space and high manufacturing costs.

  In the case of the wet coating method, since the magnesium alloy has a large activation tendency, magnesium ions and ions in the electrolytic solution cause a mutual substitution reaction on the surface of the magnesium alloy during the surface coating process by electrolytic plating or electroless plating. Since the aging degree of the electrolytic solution is made serious and the corrosion resistance of the plated surface is greatly reduced by galvanic corrosion, the added value is low.

  As an alternative to the surface treatment method of magnesium alloy for solving the above problems, there is a chemical conversion film treatment method, and representative chemical conversion film treatment methods include chromic acid-based and non-chromic acid-based chemical conversion treatment methods. In these methods, the corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance of the film are not so good, and they are used in a limited way for pretreatment of coating, and regulation is expected as a pollution problem for film formation. Since chromium (Cr) or manganese (Mn) is used, there is a decisive disadvantage that there is a high possibility that the production process will be regulated in the future.

  Also, there is a magnesium alloy coating technique by an anodic oxidation method, and many studies have been made by methods such as galvanic anodizing, HAE anodizing, and Dow 17 anodizing.

  However, the anodizing method of magnesium or magnesium alloy differs from the amorphous anodic oxidation treatment of Al and Al alloy in the pH of the electrolyte solution on which the oxide film is formed, the type of electrolyte solution and the reaction principle, Since the film is formed in such a form that the expansion rate of the oxide film generated during oxidation is rather reduced, the anodized film has a large amount of internal processing, and the density of the film is lowered, and in this connection, the corrosion resistance is also lowered. There was a point. The anodic oxidation method also has a problem in that it uses chromium and manganese, which can cause pollution problems in the composition of the treatment liquid, as in the film treatment method. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional anodizing method. Referring to FIG. 1, magnesium or magnesium is sequentially subjected to steps of degreasing, washing with water, removing an oxide layer, washing with water, anodizing, washing with water, and drying. A coating layer is formed on the alloy surface.

In order to solve such a problem, a technique modified to a name such as plasma anodization or fine arc anodization has been developed. Such a technique uses a common electrolyte containing Si ⁴⁺ ions to increase the surface arc formation strength on a high voltage (150V to 500V), and to convert Si ⁴⁺ ions into magnesium silicate for internal processing of the coating. It was a method of filling in the form of and making a dense organization. However, the high voltage anodic oxidation method as described above has a very large rectifier capacity due to the mass production of magnesium parts, and the oxide film is a firm but non-soft ceramic that generates many cracks. In addition, there is a disadvantage that the adhesion of the post-treatment coating for improving the corrosion resistance is poor. As an alternative, there were various efforts to lower the high voltage by the DC / AC superposition method or the pulse power supply method, but the result of normalization was that the rectifier was expensive, but the effect equivalent to it was not great .

  In addition, sand blasting may be used in the pretreatment step before anodization. In this case, since foreign substances such as oil on the surface of magnesium are not sufficiently removed, defects in the anodized film can be induced. Some TCE (trichloroethylene) or acetone may be used, but care must be taken in this case because it may induce serious pollution.

  Therefore, the present invention has been devised to solve the problems of the surface treatment as described above, and improves the pretreatment process and applies a low voltage direct current in an electrolyte solution that is not harmful to the environment. An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for forming an anodic oxide film having good characteristics on the surface of a magnesium or magnesium alloy base material by using a fine arc plasma anodizing method.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the problem of degreasing failure and the generation of organic wastewater through the improvement of the pretreatment process, and is environmentally friendly because it does not contain chromium and manganese components, and it is an electrolyte solution that does not contain Si ⁴⁺ ions. It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for forming an anodic oxide film having good characteristics by utilizing a fine arc plasma anodizing method for applying a low-voltage direct current.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an anodized surface treatment method of magnesium or a magnesium alloy for forming an oxide film on the magnesium or the magnesium alloy is performed by using a strong alkaline aqueous solution and a foreign substance and an oxide layer on the surface of the magnesium or the magnesium alloy. And a magnesium oxide film coating layer by applying a direct current with a current density of 3 A / dm ² or less after immersing the magnesium or magnesium alloy that has undergone the pretreatment step in an alkaline electrolyte. Including a fine arc plasma anodizing step to form. At this time, Si ⁴⁺ ions are not included in the alkaline electrolyte.

  An anodic oxidation surface treatment method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a post-treatment step of washing magnesium or a magnesium alloy on which the coating layer is formed after the fine arc plasma anodization step with distilled water and then drying with hot air. In addition.

  Preferably, the strong alkaline aqueous solution in the pretreatment step is KOH 30 g / L to 60 g / L, NaOH 150 g / L to 200 g / L, amine oxide 20 g / L to 30 g / L, α-alkoxyisobutyric acid alkyl ester 5 g / L. L to 10 g / L, including a wetting agent.

Preferably, the alkaline electrolyte in the fine arc plasma anodizing step includes potassium hydroxide (KOH) 20 to 150 g / L, sodium carbonate (Na ₂ CO ₃ ) 20 to 150 g / L, trisodium citrate (Trisodium citrate). ) 5-40 g / L, potassium fluoride (KF) 3-40 g / L, acidic ammonium fluoride (NH ₄ HF ₂ ) 3-40 g / L. In the range where the content of each component is lower or higher than the above composition ratio, the rate at which the anodic oxide film is formed on the surface of the base material becomes excessively slow, or the film surface burns and a non-uniform film is formed. [See Table 2].

  In the present invention, instead of an existing pretreatment step using an organic solvent such as TCE (trichloroethylene) or acetone or sandblasting with low degreasing effect as a pretreatment step before anodizing treatment, an environmentally friendly strong alkaline aqueous solution is used. By performing the pretreatment process including the used degreasing process, not only the pretreatment process becomes simpler, but also the processed surface on which the anodized film is formed through the pretreatment process is maintained as it is, and the product defect rate is minimized. There is an effect of becoming. In addition, there is an effect that the generation of organic waste water discharged in the conventional pretreatment process and the generation of magnesium dust generated by sandblasting are suppressed in a source manner.

  The present invention suppresses the generation of wastewater by using an electrolyte solution that is not an environmental pollutant such as chromium and / or manganese components and is easily available in the micro arc plasma anodizing process. There is an effect of doing.

Further, according to the present invention, a fine arc plasma anodic oxidation process using an electrolyte solution to which sodium carbonate (Na ₂ CO ₃ ) is added can form a dense magnesium oxide anodic oxide film layer as compared with the prior art. By forming a fine and uniform protruding magnesium compound on the surface of the coating layer, there is an effect of maximizing the adhesion of the coating, which is a subsequent process, and improving the corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and paintability.

Flow chart illustrating a conventional surface treatment method for forming an anodized film on the surface of magnesium or magnesium alloy 1 is a flow chart illustrating a surface treatment method for forming an anodized film on the surface of magnesium or a magnesium alloy according to an embodiment of the present invention. Structure enlarged photograph of the surface of the magnesium alloy sheet surface-treated by the surface treatment method shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. This embodiment is provided by way of example so that those skilled in the art can fully understand the idea of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below, and can be embodied in other forms.

  FIG. 2 is a flow chart schematically showing the anodizing surface treatment method according to the present invention. Referring to this, the surface treatment method according to the present invention includes an alkali degreasing step (S10), a fine arc plasma anodizing step (S20), and a drying step (S30). A water washing step (S12, S22) is performed between the alkaline degreasing step (S10) and the fine arc plasma anodizing step (S20) and between the fine arc plasma anodizing step (S20) and the drying step (S30). .

  In the alkaline degreasing step (S10), a foreign substance remaining on the surface at the same time as the degreasing treatment in which magnesium or a magnesium alloy base material is immersed in a strong alkaline aqueous solution to dissolve and dissolve the organic matter strongly adhered to the surface by a chemical reaction. Remove. The degreased base material is subjected to a water washing step (S12), followed by a fine arc plasma anodizing step (S20) in which a magnesium oxide layer film containing magnesium carbonate is formed on the surface of the base material subjected to the degreasing treatment and water washing. Is called. Next, the step of washing the anodized film layer (S22) and the step of drying the anodized film layer (S30) are sequentially performed.

  First, in the alkaline degreasing step (S10), the processing oil attached to the surface by the amine oxide and the alkali component, the release agent and the like are oiled, and the oiled oil is dispersed with an α-alkoxyisobutyric acid alkyl ester. Dissolve in aqueous solution to clean the surface. More specifically, the alkali degreasing step includes KOH 30 g / L to 60 g / L, NaOH 150 g / L to 200 g / L, amine oxide 20 g / L to 30 g / L, α-alkoxyisobutyric acid alkyl ester 5 g / L. It is performed by immersing the magnesium alloy in a strong alkaline aqueous solution of about 35 to 50 ° C. composed of 10 to 10 g / L and a wetting agent. When the content of each component is lower or higher than the above composition ratios, the speed at which the oil component on the surface is removed may be very slow, or discoloration of the base material surface may occur. Therefore, it is preferable that the degreasing step is performed in an alkaline aqueous solution having the above composition ratio.

Next, in the fine arc plasma anodizing step (S20), the magnesium product is immersed in an environmentally friendly electrolyte mainly composed of potassium hydroxide and sodium carbonate, and then the direct current is within a range where the current density is 3 A / dm ² or less. Apply current.
As the environmentally friendly electrolyte, an alkaline electrolyte having a pH of 9 to 14 is used, and its composition and concentration are as shown in [Table 1] below. Here, when coloring is performed simultaneously with anodic oxidation, or when the component change of the magnesium product is serious, some additives can be added separately depending on the situation.

The electrolytic solution is characterized in that it uses an environmentally friendly electrolytic solution that does not use manganese and chromium. In particular, by adding a large amount of sodium carbonate (Na ₂ CO ₃ ) in the composition of the electrolytic solution, a fine arc plasma is used. The insoluble film of magnesium carbonate is densely filled in the non-dense film of magnesium oxide produced by the anodic oxidation reaction, and a reaction product of protruding magnesium carbonate and trisodium citrate is formed on the surface of the film. This will play an important role in improving the adhesion of the coating after anodization.

  FIG. 3 is a photograph showing the fine structure of the magnesium oxide layer and the protrusions on the surface after the fine arc anodizing treatment using the electrolytic solution added with sodium carbonate.

On the other hand, the current efficiency of the electrolytic solution is 100%, and thus the film formation rate is very high, so that a fine arc plasma anodic oxidation reaction is possible even at a low current density of 3 A / dm ² or less. Further, since the oxide film is formed at a low arc forming voltage of 45V to 70V, there is an advantage that the capacity of the rectifier is not a problem at the time of mass production.

  Here, after carrying out the fine arc plasma anodizing treatment of the present invention on the magnesium alloy plate (AZ31) for 20 minutes with the electrolytic solution composition as shown in [Table 2], it was thoroughly washed with distilled water, The results of drying for 5 minutes at 120 ° C., cooling, and a salt spray test were shown.

  Even without coating, the film produced under the fine arc plasma anodizing conditions of the present invention exhibited excellent corrosion resistance without any abnormality for 48 hours.

  As a result of coating on the magnesium alloy plate (AZ31) anodized for 10 minutes according to the present invention, no traces of corrosion appear even after 240 hours of salt water spraying, so that the film obtained by anodization for about 10 minutes Has a great advantage that it can be used as a coating base having sufficient adhesion.

The present invention is an anodizing method suitable for use as a base coating for a magnesium alloy. More specifically, the silicate component that induces turbidity of the electrolyte and clogging of the plate heat exchanger is not included in the electrolyte, and the magnesium alloy material is used as an anode with a DC power source in an aqueous solution. When an electrolytic reaction occurs at a constant current density, the voltage rises at a constant rate in the initial stage, while a fine arc plasma due to dielectric breakdown is generated on the surface of the magnesium alloy immersed in an aqueous solution between 45V and 70V. The holes generated when a fine arc is generated on the surface form many grayish white magnesium oxide films. This hole greatly improves the adhesion when coating in a later step so that a coating film excellent in corrosion resistance and wear resistance can be obtained.

Claims (5)

In the anodized surface treatment method for forming an oxide film on magnesium or a magnesium alloy,
A pretreatment step of removing foreign substances and oxide layers on the surface of magnesium or a magnesium alloy using a strong alkaline aqueous solution;
A fine arc plasma anodizing step of forming a magnesium oxide film coating layer by immersing magnesium or a magnesium alloy that has undergone the pretreatment step in an alkaline electrolyte and then applying a direct current with a current density of 3 A / dm ² or less. And a method for anodizing surface treatment of magnesium or a magnesium alloy.   2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a post-treatment step of washing the magnesium or the magnesium alloy on which the film coating layer is formed with distilled water after the fine arc plasma anodizing step and then drying with hot air. Anodizing surface treatment method of magnesium or magnesium alloy.   The strong alkaline aqueous solution in the pretreatment step is KOH 30 g / L to 60 g / L, NaOH 150 g / L to 200 g / L, amine oxide 20 g / L to 30 g / L, α-alkoxyisobutyric acid alkyl ester 5 g / L to 10 g. 2. The anodizing surface treatment method for magnesium or a magnesium alloy according to claim 1, comprising / L and a wetting agent. Wherein said alkaline electrolyte fine plasma anodization process is characterized in that it comprises sodium carbonate (Na ₂ CO _3), anodized surface treatment method of the magnesium or magnesium alloy of claim 1. The alkaline electrolyte in the fine arc plasma anodizing step includes potassium hydroxide (KOH) 20 to 150 g / L, sodium carbonate (Na ₂ CO ₃ ) 20 to 150 g / L, trisodium citrate 5 to 40 g / L, characterized in that it comprises a potassium fluoride (KF) 3~40g / L, ammonium bifluoride _{(NH 4 HF 2) 3~40g /} L, magnesium or magnesium alloy according to claim 1 Anodizing surface treatment method.