Preparation and characterization of the electrodeposited Fe-Cr alloy film

Fe-Cr alloy films were electrodeposited from the trivalent chromium bath containing glycine as complexing agent. The effects of electrodeposition parameters such as current density, bath pH and bath concentration on the composition of deposited films were investigated in detail. The crystallographic structures of Fe-Cr deposited films with a wide range of alloy composition were analyzed by means of XRD, SEM, TEM as well as ESCA. The magnetic properties of Fe-Cr deposited films were measured by using VSM. The result indicated that the crystallographic structures of deposited films are the alpha-Fe solid solution for deposited films with 3.1 at.% Cr, the meta-stable phase for the deposited films with Cr content ranging from 4.5 to 22.4 at.%, and the amorphous phase for deposited films with Cr content ranging from 22.9 to 74.4 at.%. The magnetic measurement result indicated that the amorphous Fe-Cr deposited film is a paramagnetic material. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.