Advances in Processing and Characterization of Conversion Coatings

There is an ongoing demand for metal surface properties improvement. New films with altered physical and chemical properties giving the substrates new functionalities are increasingly examined. One of the widely used traditional surface modifications is by conversions coatings (CC) formed in-situ on a metal surface by the chemical or electrochemical reaction of the metal substrate with anions in the solution. In such cases, commonly used phosphate and chromate coatings and anodic films compete with next-generation chromium-free products, such as plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) products, zirconium oxide, Mo, Ce-Mo, Ti-based ones, to name a few. New functionalities have emerged with applications spanning from better appearance, increased adhesion, hardness, wear or lubricity, and corrosion protection. The fields of application are diverse, from the corrosion protection to improving the stability and charge storage abilities of battery electrodes.

The scope of this Special Issue is to provide a diverse set of articles on various aspects of conversion coatings on practically all substrates, covering the comprehensive synthesis procedures with their process parameters and their influence on microstructure, morphology, porosity, crystalline phases, texture, grain size, physical properties and the broad range of applications. Both anorganic and polymeric coatings will be considered. Emphasis will be placed on CC for corrosion protection, but also the role of CC in other applications areas is also welcome. Therefore, we would like to invite all researchers working on conversion coatings to contribute with their experimental or theoretical results addressing modern trends /advances in processing, characterization and application of Conversion Coatings.

The guest-editor of the special issue is Professor Jelena Bajat, University of Belgrade, Serbia. The special issue was published in September 2022..