Determination of Property Differences Between Mg-Zn Mono and Multilayered Thin Film Metallic Glasses

Due to the advantage of crystalline defectless nature, thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs) are worth to focus on their behavioral differences. Besides the monolayer, the multilayer is also interesting for determining the property variations. The layers are usually built with different elements, but to obtain different compositions, only changing sputter parameters by using the same elements has been studied rarely. As the light materials, Mg-based alloys have been applied from biomedical to aviation. Therefore, in the scope of the present study, the structure, hydrophobicity, tribology, adhesion, and electrochemical properties of magnetron sputtered mono-Mg-Zn and multilayered Mg-Zn(M) TFMGs on cp-Ti were investigated via SEM, XRD, XPS, tribometer, tensiometer, and a three-electrode cell analyzes. Both films showed the hydrophobicity with PBS and distilled water separately. The passive oxide layer, amorphous monolithic architecture, and in particular less Mg content were determined to be dominant parameters increasing corrosion resistance of Mg-Zn than Mg-Zn(M) and therefore reduced the wear rate in corrosive medium, but more amount of MgO content lowered friction coefficient of Mg-Zn(M). Mg-Zn(M) performed worse adhesion strength owing to the high deformation resistance difference between the substrate and film producing much internal stress and disrupting compatibility.