Effects of process parameters on the microstructure of iron coating fabricated on pure aluminum by immersion plating

Abstract

In this paper, an iron coating was designed to fabricate on the surface layer of pure aluminum. The effects of process parameters such as immersion plating method, durations and temperatures on the microstructure of iron coating were studied systematically. The experimental results showed that the quality of the iron coating fabricated on the sample by one‐step immersion plating is better than that obtained by two‐step immersion plating. The iron coating obtained by one‐step immersion plating for 1 min is continuous and without obvious gaps and cavities. With the immersion time increased to 3 min and 5 min, the coating is uneven and easy to fall off from the surface of sample. Additionally, due to that the higher temperature increases the efficiency of displacement reaction, the quality of the coating obtained at 40 °C is better than that obtained at 55 °C and 65 °C. Consequently, the optimal immersion plating parameters were one‐step immersion plating, 1 min, and 40 °C. This paper provides a novel method to prepare an iron coating as a pretreatment for electroplating of aluminum.