Sulfur and Saccharin Incorporation into Electrodeposited CoFe Alloys: Consequences for Magnetic and Corrosion Properties

Incorporation of sulfur into 2.4 T CoFe alloys during galvanostatic deposition has been studied. The results indicate that the main source of sulfur in magnetic deposit is saccharin used as an additive in the plating solution. The atomic percent of sulfur in deposit and the sulfur incorporation rate show strong dependence on saccharin concentration in the plating solution. This dependence has pronounced maximum at Csac 0.12 g L−1, while for Csac 1.5 g L−1 the incorporation rate approaches constant value. A simple physical model is developed to describe the sulfur incorporation as a function of saccharin concentration having an excellent qualitative agreement with experimental data. The corrosion and magnetic properties of the electrodeposited 2.4 T CoFe alloys were found to be the strong function of the sulfur incorporation rate, and these results are discussed within the framework of the proposed sulfur incorporation model. © 2008 The Electrochemical Society. DOI: 10.1149/1.2948377 All rights reserved. 0013-4651/2008/155 9 /D589/6/$23.00 © The Electrochemical Society