JOURNAL

OF MATERIALS

SCIENCE

LETTERS

4 (1985)

904-907

Electrolytic preparation of Fe-Ni alloy

S. N. S R I M A T H I *

Department of Chemistry, N.M.K.R.V. First Grade College for Women, Jayanagar, Banga/ore 560 Ol 1, India
S. M. M A Y A N N A

Laboratoire de Physique des So/ides, Batiment 510, Universitd de Paris-Sud 91405, Orsay, France

Ni Fe alloys find extensive application in metal finishing [1] and microelectronic [2] applications. Thin films of Ni-20% Fe magnetic alloy have been electroplated from acidic and alkaline complex baths using a pulse current [3] and also by superimposing alternating current on direct current [4]. The electroplating of binary magnetic alloys has been reviewed [5]. Alloy plating from a bath solution containing more than one complexing agent has yet to make a good beginning in electroplating technology. By the use of such complexing baths there is a possibility for a wide variation in the composition of an alloy by just varying the concentration ratios of the complexing agents. Pyrophosphate baths have been used extensively in the electroplating of single metals [6] and alloys [7]. The present communication deals with the electroplating of Fe-Ni alloy from an alkaline sulphate bath containing pyrophosphate (Py) and imidazole (I). The solutions were prepared using distilled water and reagent grade chemicals. All the experiments were carried out at 50C and pH 8.5, to a constant thickness under unstirred conditions unless otherwise stated. The bath solution had the composition NiSO4 + FeSO4 = 0.1 M, boric acid 15 g 1- J, ascorbic acid 0.005 M, Na2SO 4 10gl -l, Py 0.3M, I 0.05M. The experiments were performed in a three compartment cell. A 90 V battery in series with a resistor was used as a source of current. Freshly prepared copper-coated platinum foil (2 cm x 2 cm) and cylindrical platinum foil were used as the cathode and auxiliary electrode, respectively. Deposition potentials were recorded with refer*For all correspondence. 904

ence to the saturated calomel electrode using a systronics digital multimeter (Model 435). The surface of the electroplated Fe-Ni alloys was observed under a metallurgical microscope with high resolution. After each experiment, the alloy was stripped in dilute HNO3(1:4). The composition of the solution was obtained by an atomic absorption spectrometer. Some typical electroplated Fe--Ni alloys were subjected to Xray diffraction analysis, and the coercivity values of the samples were also measured. The composition of the bath was varied from 60% Ni to 80% Ni. There was a linear increase in the nickel content of the alloy with its increased content in the bath. There was a preferential deposition of nickel. At a current density of 0 . 5 A d m -2 the percentage of nickel increased from 78% to 99% on varying the bath composition from 60% to 80% Ni. The dependence of alloy composition on the composition of the bath is shown in Table I. To study the effect of current density on the composition of the alloy, the current density was varied from 0.5 to 1.5 A dm -2 . The percentage of nickel in the alloy decreased with increasing current density (Table I). Fe-Ni alloys were electroplated to a constant thickness from a bath solution containing 70% Ni at pH values 7.5 and 8.5. For an increase in pH from 7.5 to 8.5, the nickel content of the alloy decreased from 86% to 72%. At a current density of 1 A dm -2, the percentage of nickel in the alloy decreased from 80% to 73% on increasing the temperature from 30 to 50 C. The effect of stirring the medium was studied at a current density of 1 A dm -2 from a bath containing 70%

0261-8028/85 $03.00 + .12 1985 Chapman and Hall Ltd.