Zinc-Nickel Binary Alloys Electrodeposition of Steel Using Pulse Current

Zinc-Nickel electrodeposits have been widely adopted for surface treatment of automobile steel sheet for high corrosion resistance. In this work the effect of pulse parameters on the Zn-Ni alloy electrodeposits was investigated. The hardness, thickness, corrosion resistance and composition of deposits thus produced were investigated. The surface topography of the deposits was also observed in SEM and results are reported. It has been shown that the thickness of the pulse electrodeposits was almost even. The hardness in the pulse electrodeposits increased by increasing the on-time period and by decreasing the current density. It was also noticed that increasing the on-time period increases the nickel content of the deposit. Pulse electrodposits had fine structure and the structure become finer by reducung the on-time period and pulse frequency. The corrosion dehaviors of the deposits were then investigated. The results showed that the corrosion resistance of the DC electrodeposits improves in their nickel content increases. Pulse electodeposits show the same behavior, but deposits with about 13% nickel show maximum corrosion resistance.