Nickel–Chromium Alloy Coatings Through Electrodeposition: Structural and Corrosion Properties

The anticorrosive deposit plays a crucial role in protecting mild steel and machinery components against corrosion. The acidic sulfate bath with NiSO 4 ·6H 2 O, Cr 4 (SO 4 ) 5 (OH) 2 , citric acid, sodium acetate, and sodium vinyl sulfonate (SVS) is used as a brightener for the Ni–Cr deposit on the low‐carbon steel surface. The optimization of bath composition and operating conditions is carried out by employing the Hull cell approach to achieve a superior corrosion‐resistant coating. The influence of the pH, current density (CD), hardness, and thickness is investigated. The corrosion test of the coatings is investigated using a Tafel polarization technique; 3.5% NaCl is used as a corrosion medium, and the lowest corrosion rate of about 7.63 × 10 −2 mm y −1 is obtained at 4.0 A dm −2 . The Energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX) technique confirms an increase in Cr content with enhanced CDs. The structural and morphological characteristics of the alloy coatings are investigated by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Atomic force microscopy (AFM) methods. The results demonstrate that the optimized Ni–Cr coating provides excellent corrosion resistance, indicating strong potential for use in automotive applications.