A comparative study of the electroless deposition of NiP, NiCoP and CoP using hydrophosphite based baths

The initial aim of the research work was to study the co-deposition of electroless Ni-Co alloy from a hypophosphite based bath. The work was then extended to the characterization of Ni-P, Ni-Co-P and Co-P alloys as well. Deposition of Ni-P and Ni-Co-P was carried out in Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore while characterization of deposits was carried out in School of Metallurgy and Materials, the University of Birmingham, U.K. The effects of plating parameters have been studied. The deposits are explored for their magnetic and electrochemical properties. These characteristics are related to the chemical compositions and structure of the deposits. The results demonstrate that the pH and the solution temperature strongly affect the chemical composition and the deposit characteristics. (author)