Electrochemical deposition of Ni-W crack-free coatings

Abstract

The main features of electrochemical deposition of coatings based on Ni-W binary alloy in the pulse current mode using pyrophosphate electrolytes were studied. Two electrolytes with a pH of 8.7 and 9.5 were used. The deposition was carried out with the current density varying in the range of 0.01-0.1 A·cm-2, and the duty cycle (the relative pulse duration) was changed within the range 20-100%. The surface morphology and elemental and phase composition of the coatings were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis and X-ray diffractometry. The experimental conditions allowing us to achieve the maximum Faradaic efficiency andWcontent in the coatings were determined. It was found that the pulse current mode enabled the fabrication of crack-free coatings with a thickness greater than 6 μm.