Thermal stability of nanostructured electrodeposits

Journal article, 2002

As a result of their unique, but well-behaved structure-property relationships, porosity free nanostructured electrodeposits in the form of thin and thick coatings, free-standing sheet, foil or wire, and complex shapes, are rapidly finding applications in many different areas. Because of the large driving force for grain growth in these materials, however, their thermal stability may be a critical issue for some applications. This paper reviews previous grain growth studies of nanostructured electrodeposits. Thermal stability has been evaluated using several different experimental approaches. Calorimetric studies of nanocrystalline nickel based electrodeposits have shown a general trend of increasing thermal stability by alloying with either P or Fe. There is, however, little agreement between the various studies in terms of suggested growth mechanisms. Indeed, because of the large range of annealed structures obtained from different annealing treatments, several distinct growth mechanisms have been suggested. Recent grain growth studies of nanostructured Ni electrodeposits, covering a much broader range of annealing conditions than used before, have shown that the multiple types of previously reported annealed structures are in fact the product of a multi-staged growth process.