SBIR Phase I: Low Cost Anodized Coating for Magnesium Automotive Components

该SBIR第一阶段项目将开发一种用于汽车工业的镁合金的低成本、大批量阳极氧化工艺。 该项目旨在使用独特的电清洁方法减少镁阳极氧化的时间和成本，该方法减少了涂覆涂层之前的预处理步骤，并使用“绿色化学”减少该过程对环境的影响。镁合金广泛用于汽车应用，因为它们比铝合金轻三分之一，但镁在暴露于腐蚀性环境时以及与异种金属结合时会遭受高腐蚀率。阳极氧化提供了最好的保护;然而，由于成本考虑，汽车工业目前依赖于化学转化涂层来保护镁，这不是环保的，也不足以在未来的汽车应用中保护镁。据估计，使用该计划中开发的技术将导致车辆重量减少10%，燃料消耗减少7%。此外，这项技术还可以加速镁在消费电子、电动工具和医疗设备等领域的利用。

This SBIR Phase I project will develop a low cost, high volume anodization process for magnesium alloys used in the automotive industry. The project aims to reduce the time and cost to anodize magnesium using a unique electro-cleaning method that reduces the number of pretreatment steps prior to application of the coating, and using "green chemistry" to reduce environmental impact of the process. Magnesium alloys are used extensively in automotive applications because they are one-third lighter than aluminum alloys, but magnesium suffers from a high rate of corrosion when exposed to an aggressive environment and when coupled with dissimilar metals. Anodization offers the best protection; however, due to cost considerations the auto industry currently depends on chemical conversion coatings to protect magnesium which are not as environmentally friendly, and not robust enough to protect magnesium in future automotive applications. It is estimated that the use of the technology developed in this program will lead to a 10 % reduction in a vehicle weight, and 7% reduction in fuel use. In addition, this technology could accelerate the utilization of magnesium in areas such as consumer electronics, power tools and medical devices.