Activation and Fluoride-Assisted Phosphating of Aluminum-Silicon-Coated
Steel
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Abstract
Phosphating
is a crucial process in the corrosion protection of metals. Here,
activation and fluoride-assisted tricationic phosphating is investigated
on aluminum–silicon (AS) coated steel surfaces. Dynamic light
scattering results from the activation bath show a bimodal size distribution,
with hydrodynamic radii of ∼400 nm and ∼10 μm.
For the smaller particle fraction, static light scattering results
are consistent with the interpretation of disklike particles as scattering
objects. Particles of the larger fraction sediment with time. In the
presence of electrolyte, the scattering intensity from the larger
particle fraction increases. Coagulation with time is suggested to
be related to the decrease in activity of the activation bath. Scanning
Auger microscopy (SAM) shows a higher phosphorus concentration after
titanium phosphate activation in the Al-rich areas compared to the
Si-rich areas of the AS coatings. There is no correlation between
the size of the species in the activation bath, and the size of the
phosphate-containing regions on the activated surface. Phosphating
was performed in the presence of hexafluorosilicic acid, H<sub>2</sub>SiF<sub>6</sub>, ammonium hydrogen difluoride, NH<sub>4</sub>HF<sub>2</sub>, and both, at an initial pH of 2.5. The absence of crystals
after phosphating with H<sub>2</sub>SiF<sub>6</sub> is an indication
that SiF<sub>6</sub><sup>2–</sup> is the final product of the oxide dissolution in the presence of
fluoride. In the presence of NH<sub>4</sub>HF<sub>2</sub>, the Si-rich
regions of the surface are phosphated before the Si-poor (Al-rich)
regions. Hence, the phosphate distribution after activation and after
phosphating are opposite. These results show that a high surface concentration
of phosphate after activation is not sufficient for a high coverage
with phosphate crystals after phosphating