Aqueous Electrodeposition Of Rare Earth Alloy Thin Films

Thin films of rare earths have been applied widely in magnetic, optical, electrolytic and superconductor devices, and aroused many material researchers' interests.In this paper, the preparation, properties and application of rare earth films are summarized. Possibilities for electrodeposition of rare earth metals and their alloys from aqueous solution are discussed.The white-gray films with a thickness up to 5m of Ni-Nd-P, Ni-Ce-P and Fe-Nd-Ni-P alloys were successfully prepared on copper substrate by electrodeposition from aqueous bath. The reduction potential of rare earth shifted positively due to the complex formation (formed with citric acid) and the copper substrate, which made rare earth alloy films deposition possible. Emphasis was imposed on the effect of concentration of metal salts and doposition conditions on the components and morphologies of Ni-Nd-P. Proper concentration of metal salts and doposition conditions were obtained for the realization of the codeposition of Ni, Nd and P, and the alloys are of high Nd content and fine quality.In addition, mechanical, thermal and magnetic of the rare earth films were investigated in this paper. The result of the micro-hardness and Young's modulus of films show that the rare earth films have low hardness and great stress. Analysis of the microstructure and DTA show that these rare earth alloys are good amorphous materials with great thermo-stability. Magnetic measurements show that these alloys have poor magnetic properties, which are higher than those of the rare earth-free Ni-P alloys, and increase with the increase of the heat treatment temperature.