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Reactive Bilayers by Self-activated Electroless Nickel-Phosphorous Deposition on Pure Aluminum

  • Advanced Coating and Thin Film Materials for Energy, Aerospace and Biological Applications
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Abstract

Nickel-aluminum bilayers and multilayers are commonly used in reactive systems because of their high heat of mixing. Traditionally, the layers are sputter deposited, an expensive and time-consuming process. In this article, a chemical reduction technique, electroless nickel-phosphorous (EN) deposition, is used for formation of the Ni-Al bilayer using a pure Al substrate. Traditionally, EN deposition on Al requires surface activation due to the native oxide layer. Here, we tune the bath pH to dissolve this oxide layer, such that deposition can be obtained without surface activation. Deposition kinetics is measured by tracking the mass change with time and temperature, and we extracted the activation energies at two different pH values. At pH 7, the energy is 98.7 kJ/mol and reduces to 55 kJ/mol at a pH of 8. The process can also be extended to aluminum powders and flakes in order to form reactive core–shell structures.

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Acknowledgements

XRD and SEM imaging with EDS measurements was carried out at the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, IIT Madras. Weight change measurements were done in the Department of Physics, IIT Madras. The authors are also grateful to Dr. Lakshman Neelakantan, Head, Corrosion Engineering and Materials Electrochemistry Lab, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, for help with preparation of the pure aluminum foils and for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electronic Materials and Thin Films Lab, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology – Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Meghna Narayanan, Anirban Chakraborty & Parasuraman Swaminathan

  2. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Basar, 504107, India

    Allakonda Harsha

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  1. Meghna Narayanan
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  2. Allakonda Harsha
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  3. Anirban Chakraborty
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  4. Parasuraman Swaminathan
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Correspondence to Parasuraman Swaminathan.

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Narayanan, M., Harsha, A., Chakraborty, A. et al. Reactive Bilayers by Self-activated Electroless Nickel-Phosphorous Deposition on Pure Aluminum. JOM 73, 574–579 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-020-04520-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-020-04520-x

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