The Mg-Li-Zn alloy, LZ91, is a potential material for industrial application owing to its high specific strength. However, the LZ91 has so high chemical reactivity that it is easily corroded in air and an aqueous environment. In this study, an eco-friendly electrodeposition method was proposed to obtain a protective Cr/Cu coating on the 1291 substrate. That is, the LZ91 surface electroplated a Cu undercoat in an alkaline Cu-plating bath and followed by decorative 1 pm-thick Cr electroplating in a plating bath with trivalent chromium ions. After electroplating, some of the Cr/Cu-deposited specimens were heated with a reduction flame for 0.5 s to increase the hardness of Cr-deposit. The wear resistance of as-plated and flame-hardened Cr/Cu-coated 1291 specimens was estimated with ball-on-plate wear tester by using a steel-ball counterpart. Whereas, their corrosion resistance was evaluated in a 0.1 M H(2)SO(4) solution before and after wear test. Experimental results show that a Cu deposit could be uniformly electroplated on the 1291 surface by using our proposed electroplating method. The corrosion resistance of 1291 was markedly improved after decorative 1 pm-thick Cr electroplating. After wear test, the steel counterpart was ground obviously with either as-plated or flame-hardened Cr/Cu-coated 1291 specimen. According to the results of electrochemical corrosion test, some parts of the Cr deposit were peeled off from worn flame-hardened Cr/Cu 1291 surface. This reduces its corrosion resistance significantly. On the other hand, the corrosion resistance of as-plated Cr/Cu 1291 was not changed after wear test. That is, an as-plated Cr/Cu-coated 1291 specimen could have good corrosion and wear resistance. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.