Low energy-consumption plasma electrolytic oxidation based on grid cathode

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) has attracted widespread attention owing to the simplicity of operation and the excellent properties of the formed coating. However, wider applications of PEO have been limited due to the high power consumption. This work describes the design and performance of a novel technique named shorter distance PEO (SD-PEO), which is intended for lowering the energy consumption. The key feature of the method is the application of grid cathode to eliminate the gaseous envelope effect and to block of the exchange of charge carries during SD-PEO process. Compared to PEO carried out at a normal electrode distance, e.g., 50 mm, both the voltage drop and the joule heat consumed in the electrolyte at a shorter distance, e.g., of 5 mm (SD-PEO) are relatively small. Consequently, the energy consumption rendered by the novel SD-PEO method may decrease by more than 25%. Our results reveal that SD-PEO is a low energy-consumption microarc oxidation technique with more potential in industry applications. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.