Texture orientation, morphology and performance of nanocrystalline nickel coatings electrodeposited from a Watts-type bath: Effects of H3BO3 concentration and plating time

Nanocrystalline nickel coatings were electroplated from a Watts-type bath with the addition of H3BO3 ranging of 5-25 g.L-1 . In order to study the evolution of preferential orientation of Ni electrodeposits, the microstructure, texture and grain size of the coatings deposited with different H(3)BO(3 )contents for different plating times were characterized by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, further the residual stress, microhardness, and abrasion resistance of the texture-oriented coatings were measured by X-ray diffraction, Vickers microhardness tester, and Calotester, respectively. The electrochemical corrosion resistance of the highly texture-oriented coatings and the substrate was evaluated by polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results show the preferential orientation of the coating was gradually changed from (200) to (220) crystal plane with increasing H3BO3 content after plating time of 1 h. The longer the plating time was applied, the higher the degree of Ni (200) orientation was produced at a low H3BO3 concentration of 5 g.L-1. The preferential orientation of the coatings at a high H3BO3 concentration of 25 g.L-1 was changed initially from (111) + (200) to (200) plane, then random orientation, and evolved to (220) plane after plating time of more than 20 min. The stability of various textures of Ni electrodeposits against plating time-H3BO3 concentration was established, and at the same time the microstructure-property relationship was developed. The average grain size of nickel coating was about 50-65 nm. The average residual stresses of the coatings with (200), (200) + (220) and (220) orientations were -64.3 +/- 5 MPa, -477.2 +/- 57 MPa and -618.0 +/- 36 MPa, respectively. The microhardness of the coating increased gradually from 242.52 +/- 10HV1 to 269.46 +/- 12HV1 with increasing H3BO3 content because of the inverse Hall-Petch and grain orientation. The abrasion and corrosion resistances of (200)-oriented coatings were better than those of (220)-oriented coatings.