Corrosion study of Neodymium-Iron-Boron alloys: Neutron reflectometry of the ultra-thin polymer film interfaces and effectiveness of polymer coatings

Type : Article de conférence
Auteur(s) :  S. Benfattoum, A. LOUNIS, M. Azzaz, D. Miroud, B. Guedioura
Année :  2016
Domaine : Sciences des matériaux
Conférence: 7th African Conference on Non Destructive Testing (ACNDT) & the 5th International Conference on NDT and Materials Industry and Alloys (IC-WNDT-MI)
Lieu de la conférence:  Oran, Algeria
Résumé en PDF :  (résumé en pdf)
Fulltext en PDF :  (.pdf)
Mots clés :  rare earths, magnet, corrosion, polymer coatings

Résumé : 

Neodymium-iron-boron alloys are very sensitive, particularly to the air humidity. The aim of this work is to study the effectiveness of polymer coatings against corrosion in the cases cited above. This work is financially supported by the Research Thematic Agency in Science and Technology. In this context we introduced the neutron reflectometry to study the ultra-thin polymer film interfaces of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). Reflectometry experiments were conducted at the nuclear research center of Draria (Algiers). The preparation of the PMMA films is performed by means a technique based on depositing a thin film on a planar solid surface. This method known as the “spin-coating’’ provides dense, homogeneous materials very thin after a rapid evaporation of the total solvent. First, we realized calibration settings "zero" reflectometer: one seeks the zero position of the detector, the optimal position of the sample and its angle of rotation. The measured reflectivity as a function of the scattering vector Q, gives information on the thickness of layers, roughness of multilayer system. From the spectrum of the reflectivity vs. the wave vector (scan Θ-2Θ of the PMMA film), we find a thickness of the PMMA film. Electrochemical measurements were performed in a three electrode cell using an VoltaLab Master4, Model 273A potentiostat. The samples of Nd-Fe-B magnets covered by the PMMA film are used as working electrode in the NaCl (0.5M) solution, a platinum wire as counter electrode and a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) as reference electrode. The polarization parameter values, corrosion current density (Icorr) and the polarization resistance (Rp) were determined. The corrosion rate values obtained show interesting perspectives for our work. The corrosion resistance is improved in the presence of PMMA layers. We note that for variable thickness of PMMA film 485nm and 1,5µm the polarization resistance are 518Ωcm² and 6550Ωcm² respectively. The corrosion rate values obtained show interesting perspectives for our work. The corrosion resistance is improved in the presence of PMMA layers