Enhanced corrosion-resistance in nanocrystalline MoSi2 films enabled by Cr additions

Nanocrystalline C40-structured (Mo1 − xCrx)Si2 films were engineered onto Ti6Al4V substrates by a double glow discharge plasma technique. The electrochemical behavior of the newly developed films in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution was characterized by electrochemical techniques including open circuit potential, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. To gain a deeper understanding of the role of Cr alloying in corrosion resistance, both cohesive energy and Mulliken population of the interatomic bonds in C40 (Mo1 − xCrx)Si2 were calculated based on the first-principles density-functional theory.