Ultrasound induced multilayer Ni-Co alloy coatings for better corrosion protection

Ultrasound induced multilayer Ni-Co alloy coatings have been developed galvanostatically by periodic modulation of ultrasound effect, parallel to the process of conventional electroplating. Multilayer Ni-Co alloy having alternative layers of different composition were developed by turning the sonicator probe, ON and OFF periodically, while keeping the current density (c.d.) constant. The deposition conditions, in terms of pulsing power density (p.d.) and degree of layering have been optimized for the highest performance of coating against corrosion, evaluated by electrochemical testing methods. Corrosion data revealed that under optimal conditions, multilayer Ni-Co alloy coating having 150 layers, represented as (Ni-Co)2/2/150 is about 11 times more corrosion resistant than its homogeneous coating, represented as (Ni-Co)4.0 A dm− 2, deposited from the same bath for same duration of time. Improved corrosion resistance of multilayer Ni-Co alloy coatings was attributed to an increase in the number of interfaces, separating the layers of alloys of different composition, affected due to periodic pulsing of the sonicator. The dependence of corrosion behaviors at different combination of c.d. and p.d., on surface morphology, composition and phase structures were analyzed, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, respectively. Experimental results are compared, and discussed.