Compositionally Modulated Multilayered Zn-Co Deposits for Better Corrosion Resistance

Zn-Co compositionally modulated multilayer alloy (CMMA) deposits have been developed onto mild steel using single bath technique. Multilayer alloy coatings have been galvanostatically produced using square current pulses. The switched cathode current density and number of layers have been designed for improved corrosion resistance. Experimental data revealed that multilayer coating with 120 layers at 10/30 mA/cm² demonstrated ~ 125 times higher resistance to corrosion than monolayer alloy coating of the same thickness. The improved corrosion resistance of multilayer coatings is due to small changes in the wt.% cobalt, leading to change in the phase structure of deposit in alternate layers. The defects and failures occurring in a single layer in the deposition process are covered by the alternatively deposited coating layers. Therefore, the direction of the corrosive agent is extended or blocked. Further, the better corrosion resistances afforded by Zn-Co CMMA coatings were explained through changes in electronic properties at the interface, supported by Mott-Schottky’s plot. However, the decrease of corrosion resistance at a high degree of layering is attributed to the less relaxation time for redistribution of solutes in the diffusion layer, during plating. Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance data showed its good protection ability. The enhanced corrosion resistance of multilayered deposits is due to small change in cobalt content, leading to alter the phase structure of the alternate-layers of the deposits. The structural morphology and the topographical structure of the coating were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Evaluation of the chemical composition of the alloy coatings was carried out by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.