Iron electroplating under hydrothermal conditions to improve anticorrosion performance

Abstract

ABSTRACTAbundant research activities have been devoted to metal electroplating technology and hydrothermal fields. In this work, a hydrothermal method has been applied in metal electroplating for the first time, to the authors’ knowledge. Iron coatings that are electroplated under hydrothermal conditions yield numerous enhancements in various aspects, especially in anticorrosion applications. Electrochemical tests indicate that the corrosion resistance is significantly higher in iron coatings obtained under hydrothermal conditions than in those electroplated through the traditional method. Specifically, the coating resistance of the sample that was electroplated for 20 min at a current intensity of 300 mA cm−2 and hydrothermal temperature of 120°C is up to 63.52 Ω cm2, in a 3.5 wt-% NaCl solution at 25°C, which is approximately 44% larger than the resistance of the sample electroplated traditionally.