Single-bath electrodeposition of chromium-nickel compositionally modulated multilayers (CMM) from a trivalent chromium bath

摘要

Electrodeposition of Cr-Ni compositionally modulated multilayers was investigated. It was realized using the single-bath technique under galvanostatic conditions. The structure was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and opticalmicroscopy. Deposit composition was determined by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Cr-Ni multilayers with distinct sublayers can be produced by single-bath electrodeposition. Nickel and chromium layer thicknesses are kept equal and vary from 2μmto 0.3μm. Nickel sublayers are pure, while chromium sublayers contain a small amount of nickel (<10 wt pct). These deposits should exhibit improved characteristics compared with chromium without nickel deposits, such as corrosion and wear resistance.