Response surface analysis to evaluate the influence of deposition parameters on the electrodeposition of Cu-Co alloys in citrate medium

Copper-cobalt alloy coatings were deposited on mild steel substrates using sodium citrate electrolytes at room temperature and under direct current. A set of cathodic polarization curves was plotted by varying the mechanical stirring speed of the solution (0-400 rpm), using a range of current densities during the electrodeposition experiments. Factorial design was used to verify the influence of these deposition parameters on the cathodic efficiency, the copper and cobalt content in the coating, the corrosion current density of the coating/substrate system, and the efficiency of the coating in protecting the substrate. The electroplating experiments showed that, with the studied bath composition, high stirring speed and low current density lead to greater cathodic current efficiency and copper-rich coatings. On the other hand, high current density and low stirring speed yields coatings with high cobalt content and a lower cathodic efficiency. Our results show that the studied parameters affect the corrosion current density and the coating efficiency of the coating/substrate system in opposite ways. The best results were obtained increasing the current density and decreasing the mechanical stirring speed. Additionally, three samples were produced in selected deposition conditions. The coatings morphologies were compact, and their grain sizes seemed to enlarge with increasing stirring speed and decreasing current density.