Surface Modification by Compositionally Modulated Multilayered Zn‐Fe Alloy Coatings

Compositionally modulated multilayered alloy (CMMA) coatings of Zn-Fe were developed from acid chloride baths by single bath technique. The production and properties of CMMA Zn-Fe coatings were tailored as a function of switching cathode current densities (SCCD’s) and thickness of individual layers. Corrosion rates (CR) were measured by electrochemical methods. Corrosion resistances were found to vary with SCCD’s and the number of sub layers in the deposit. SCCD’s were optimized for production of Zn-Fe CMMA electroplates showing peak performance against corrosion. The formation of discrete Zn-Fe alloy layers having different compositions in the deposits were demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Improvements in the corrosion resistance of multilayered alloys are due to the inherent barrier properties of CMMA coatings as evidenced by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Corrosion resistance afforded by Zn-Fe CMMA coatings are explained in terms of the n-type semiconductor films at the interface, supported by Mott-Schottky’s plot. It was observed that the alloy with high w(Fe) on the top showed better corrosion resistance compared to that with the less w(Fe) on top. At optimum SCCD’s of 3.0—5.5 A•dm－2, a Zn-Fe CMMA coatings with 600 sub layers showed ca. 45 times better corrosion resistance than conventional Zn-Fe alloy of the same thickness. The deposit showed no red rust even up to 1130 h in salt spray test.