Electroplating and corrosion behavior of tin-zinc alloy

Due to the toxicity of cadmium and its electroplating processes, a replacement to this widely used coating is desired. Electroplated tin-zinc alloy is a good candidate. In this thesis the electroplating of tin-zinc alloy and its corrosion behavior have been studied.; Tin-zinc alloy was plated from a commercial, neutral, non-cyanide and non-toxic bath. To get an alloy deposit with a composition of 70%Sn-30%Zn, a plating current density of 5 mA/cm2 should be applied. When plating without agitation, the consumption of the H+ ions by the accompanying hydrogen evolution reaction on the cathode surface caused a local pH increase and then the formation of a hydroxide layer on the outer surface. This can be prevented by agitating the solution with nitrogen gas bubbling during plating. The alloy deposit is a fine mixture of pure zinc and tin phases. The plating current efficiency was calculated to be 71% at the plating current density of 5 mA/cm2.; The tin-zinc electrodeposits have both a sacrificial property provided by zinc and a barrier property provided by tin. The open circuit potential (OCP) of the alloy coating is very close to that of zinc, so it acts as a sacrificial anode and provides a cathodic protection to the steel substrate. On the other hand, the anodic polarization current density keeps very small before the potential reaches the OCP of tin. This is because the presence of the tin on the surface forms a barrier layer which retarded the dissolution of zinc and enhanced the durability of the alloy deposit.; The OCP of the tin-zinc alloys increases with corrosion duration. It is perhaps due to an IR-drop mechanism. As zinc dissolves into the solution, cavities appear on the surface. Further zinc dissolution only occurs at the bottom of the pores, while the hydrogen evolution reaction mainly occurs on the outer surface. The separation of the anodic and cathodic sites causes an IR drop. An equivalent circuit is devised and the values of the circuit elements are measured by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). They are in accordance with the IR drop mechanism.; Chromate treatment shifts the OCP to more noble values and decreases the anodic current density. In acid solution, the chromate layer itself dissolves gradually so that the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) is not suitable to estimate the zinc dissolution rate. Measurement of the polarization resistance R_p shows that, chromate treatment increases the corrosion resistance of both tin-zinc alloys and pure zinc coatings. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...