The corrosion behavior of sputter-deposited amorphous Mo-Zr alloys in 12 M HCl

Amorphous Mo-Zr alloys were prepared in a wide composition range of 40-80 at% zirconium by a magnetron sputtering method. The sputter-deposited Mo-Zr alloys exhibit lower corrosion rates than those of molybdenum and zirconium in 12 M HCl solution open to air at 30 °C. The corrosion resistance of Mo-Zr alloys increases with increasing alloy zirconium content, but molybdenum and zirconium improve the corrosion resistance synergistically. Mo-Zr alloys containing 60 at% or more zirconium exhibit a passive region in a wide potential range without transpassive dissolution of molybdenum. The presence of zirconium suppresses both the cathodic reaction for hydrogen evolution and the anodic reduction. The air-formed film is composed of a double oxyhydroxide of zirconium and molybdenum. Spontaneously passivated films on the alloys containing less than and more than 40 at% of zirconium are composed of molybdenum-enriched and zirconium-enriched oxyhydroxides, respectively. They seem to consist of a bilayer structure; the outer zirconium and inner molybdenum oxyhydroxides. Weak points in each layer in the bilayered passive film seem to be protected mutually by another layer. This appears to be responsible for the high corrosion resistance of the Mo-Zr alloys in comparison with alloy constituents.