Mechanical and corrosion behavior of Cu, Cr, Ni and Zn electroplating on corten A588 steel for scope for betterment in ambient construction applications

• Main Authors: J.R. Deepak, V.K. Bupesh Raja, Gobi Saravanan Kaliaraj
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-09-01
• Series: Results in Physics
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211379719314391

In this study, copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn) are deposited onto corten A588 grade steel by electroplating technique. After depositing the coating, microstructure, micro-hardness and surface morphology are studied. This is done through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Vickers hardness and field emission scanning and electron microscopy (FESEM) respectively. The XRD and EDS reveals the presence of Cu, Cr, Ni and Zn elements in the respective coatings and the highest micro hardness of 1918.1HVN is observed in Cr coated corten A588 substrate. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is studied to find the corrosion behavior of coated and uncoated samples. EIS studies shows that chromium electroplated steel exhibit superior corrosion resistance (Ecorr – 1.742 V; Icorr – 0.334 mA) properties rather than Cu, Ni, Zn coatings and uncoated corten A588 substrate. The weight loss analysis is also performed on coated and uncoated samples with 3.5% NaCl for a week and the results exhibit minimum weight loss in Cr coated corten A588 samples. Hence, the study reveals that the Cu, Cr, Ni and Zn coated corten A588 samples is the suitable candidature for construction applications. Keywords: Corten A588 grade steel, Electroplating, XRD, FESEM, Micro hardness, Corrosion resistance