Comparison of Hardness by Electrolytic and Electroless Deposition of Nickel on Aluminium

Abstract The work deals with the hardness characteristic of substrates coated with nickel through two primary methods: electrolytic deposition and electroless Ni-P deposition. The optimised process parameters for both the process was determined by varying a particular parameter keeping the rest constant in order to obtain minimum crystallite size of Ni. The size of the crystallite were determined using Scherrer’s equation. The optimized combination of process parameter for electrolytic deposition is: 270gm/lt of Nickel Sulfate, 60gm/lt Nickel Chloride, 35gm/lt Boric Acid, current density of 90mA/cm 2 bath temperature of 55°C. The optimized combination of process parameter for electroless Ni-P deposition: 34gm/lt Nickel Sulfate, 23 gm/lt Sodium Hypophosphite, 46 gm/lt of Lactic acid, 42 gm/lt of Sodium Citrate, pH 5.0 and bath temperature 85°C. The optimised deposition rate 22μm/hr. Micro-hardness (Vickers) tests were conducted on the coated samples with a 50 gf load. The cause for difference in hardness was due to buildup of residual stress during deposition of Nickel on the substrate(aluminium). The orientation and surface texture of the materials are determined.