Study of surface phenomena in nickel-plated electrolytes using a K-100 tensiometer

Abstract

Modern electroplating usually suggests using electrolytes with special additives in the form of surface-active substances (surfactants). This is especially important for nickel plating electrolytes because of pitting, porosity, and low adhesion strength often accompanying the deposition of coatings is those electrolytes. We present the results of studying surface phenomena in nickel plating electrolytes using a K-100 KRUSS processor tensiometer. The Wilhelmy plate method was used to determine the surface tension of the standard Watts electrolyte and nickel-plating electrolytes added with surfactants, i.e., brightening (saccharin) and anti-pitting (RADO-11) additives. Surface phenomena at the electrolyte-solid interface have been analyzed using the OWRK model. The free energy of the solid surface (steel sample) has been estimated using the contact angle of the sample in test liquids (distilled water, re-hexane). It is shown that the anti-pitting additive RADO-11 is more effective compared to saccharin in increasing the wettability of steel samples and the adhesion strength at the electrolyte-solid interface. The results obtained can be used for nickel plating of plastics and polymer composite materials.