Abstract

This work investigates the effect of some essential plating variable of zinc electro-deposition on low carbon steel substrates. The variation of plating parameter, the depth of immersion, distance between the anode and the cathode on voltage, plating time and coating thickness was considered. The steel substrates were immersed into solution of zinc electroplating bath for varying voltage between 0.5 and 1.0 V. It was discovered that the sample plated at 0.8 V for 20 min gave the best plating properties and it was also observed that increase in applied voltage, plating time, depth of immersion and decrease in distance of the object (cathode) from the anode increases weight gained. Microstructural studies with SEM/OPM however, revealed fine grained deposit of the deposited zinc and the inclusion of addition agent.

Key words: Substrate, electroplating, coating, zinc anode, weight gain, plating variables.