Surroundings-adaptive coating enabling robustness of magnesium alloys

Magnesium alloys have promising application prospects in aeronautical and aerospace fields, but are susceptible to performance damage. Therefore, it is of great significance to construct surface coatings with surroundings-adaptability to endow magnesium alloys with robustness in harsh environment. Herein, a rare-earth-coating with surroundings-adaptability was prepared on AZ31 magnesium alloy by chemical conversion and stearic-acid modification. The as-constructed coating is composed of the micro-nano-structured lanthanum/magnesium stearate, which is superhydrophobic with a water contact angle of 154.5°. The coating can reduce the i corr value of magnesium alloy by two orders of magnitude. The as-coated sample demonstrates extraordinary self-cleaning performance and strong resistance to various mechanical (tape peeling, friction/wear, sand/rain impact, ultraviolet irradiation) and chemical (acid/salt/alkali, organic solvent , corrosive medium) damage, showcasing remarkable surroundings-adaptability. Such surroundings-adaptability is resulted from the durable superhydrophobicity of the coating, which reduces the contact area between the coating and the harmful mediums. The surroundings-adaptive coating enables robustness of magnesium alloys in harsh environment, which can promote their wide applications in aeronautics and aerospace.