The influence of phosphating bath at different temperatures on the formation and corrosion property of calcium-modified zinc phosphate conversion coating （Zn-Ca-P coating） on Mg-Li-Ca alloy was investigated. The morphologies, elemental distribution and chemical structures of the coatings were examined via SEM, EPMA, EDS, XRD and FT-IR. The corrosion resistance was assessed by hydrogen evolution, potentiodynamic polarization and EIS. The results show that the coating is composed of single element Zn and ZnO at below 45 ℃;whereas the coatings are predominantly characterized by Zn3（PO4）2·4H2O and small amount of element zinc and ZnO at above 50 ℃. Mg-Li-Ca alloy with Zn-Ca-P coatings prepared at 55 ℃ has the highest corrosion resistance. However, the hydrogen evolution rates of the coatings obtained at 40-50 ℃ is accelerated due to the galvanic corrosion between the imperfection of the single element Zn coating and the Mg substrate.
In situ growth of nano-sized layered double hydroxides （LDH） conversion film on AZ31 alloy was synthesized by a urea hydrolysis method. The formation mechanism of the film was proposed. Firstly, the dissolved Mg2＋ ions deposited into a precursor film consisted of MgCO3 and Mgs（CO3）4（OH）2·4H2O; secondly, the precursor translated into the crystalline Mg（OH）2 in alkaline conditions; finally, the Mg2＋ ions in Mg（OH）z were replaced by A13＋ ions, Mg（OH）2 translated into the more stable LDH structure, simultaneously, the OH- ions in the interlayer were exchanged by CO32-, thus led to the formation of the LDH （Mg6Alz（OHh6CO3·4H2O） film. The results indicated that the LDH film characterized by interlocking plate-like nanostructures and ion-exchange ability significantly improved the corrosion resistance of the AZ31 Mg alloy.
