Electrodeposition of high corrosion resistant Ni–Sn–P alloy coatings from an ionic liquid based on choline chloride

Abstract

With the objective of obtaining corrosion resistant coatings, ternary Ni–Sn–P alloy coatings were electrodeposited from a deep eutectic solvent and their composition, morphology and corrosion resistance were investigated as a function of electrodeposition potential. A comparison was made with a Ni–P binary alloy coating electrodeposited under similar conditions. Cyclic voltammetry, energy dispersive analysis of X-rays, potentiodynamic polarisation, open circuit potential-time and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques were used for studying the electrodeposition behaviour, chemical composition and coatings corrosion performances, respectively. The chemical compositions of the ternary Ni–Sn–P alloy films contained about 4.4–10.3 wt-% Sn, 7.2–8.1 wt-% P and Ni (balance). X-ray diffraction patterns of the ternary Ni–Sn–P deposits revealed a single and broad peak, becoming wide with an increase in Sn content, showing that the structures of all the deposits were nanocrystalline or amorphous. Corrosion tests showed that ternary Ni–Sn–P alloy coatings exhibited considerably better barrier corrosion resistance than binary Ni–P coatings, and their corrosion resistance improved with an increase in Sn content.