The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
-----

Electrodepositing Stainless Steels

September 9, 2009

Looking for some advice....
I am looking to deposit stainless steel onto a mild steel stubstrate. The type of stainless isn't critical at the moment as its just a 'look-see' but I understand the Cr is the problem and needs to be complexed.

Does anyone have any experience with deposition of stainless?


Many thanks,

Mark Craig
Researcher - Cranfield, UK

---

Hi, Mark. It is not considered possible to electrodeposit stainless steel. But Dr. David S. Lashmore, with the National Bureau of Standards at the time, did deposit numerous alternating microlayers of nickel and chromium that did a good job of imitating stainless steel.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
September 10, 2009

---

Ted is right. You cannot electrodeposit stainless steel, but you can deposit an alloy (or at least a mixture of metals) that has the same elemental metal composition as a stainless steel. The benefits gained from stainless steel are obtained by the way the different metals interact with each other during the manufacture and processing of the stainless steel. For instance, during the processing of stainless steel, you can get phosphorus enriched grain boundaries in stainless steel, but you will never replicate that effect in electrodeposition. Similarly with carbides derived from the interaction of metals and carbon Trevor Crichton R&D practical scientist Chesham, Bucks, UK In the late 80's, Battelle published a paper on it. It was tough to control, so anything other than a lab job is not worth it. Why does it need to be SS and not something suitable and a lot cheaper/simpler. James Watts - Navarre, Florida There are some thermospray processes that attain what you are looking for. Particularly, one of them called "spray-and-fuse" attains bond strengths, comparable or exceeding those of plating. The problem is that most require expensive equipment, previous roughening of the surface and moderate to high temperatures are developed which may not be tolerated by some substrates. G. Marrufo-Mexico Guillermo Marrufo Monterrey, NL, Mexico We have deposited stainless steel by PVD ( cathodic arc technique). Finish depends on the finish of the substrate and the coating thickness. Very thin coatings could be bright.Generally the coated surfaces have matte finish. One may try mild buffing to get bright finish. H.R. Prabhakara - Consultant Bangalore Plasmatek - Bangalore Karnataka India

---

September 15, 2009

Hi Mark
The others are quite right. The direct answer to your question is that here is no practical way of depositing stainless steel. (except possibly PVD)

However, you have asked a specific question without defining the problem. Why stainless steel and what grade?
Why not make the item out of SS in the first place?

There are many ways of putting a corrosion resistant finish on MS, simply and cheaply but choosing the best finish requires a better understanding of the problem.

Geoff Smith
Hampshire, England

---

September 16, 2009

Many, many thanks everyone.

I was handed a paper by Philippe who published a paper 2 years ago saying that it was possible to plate stainless steel-like coatings. However, I am finding it difficult to replicate the work (the wonderful world of research!) - and like all researchers was seeing if I was missing some obvious steps with the process.

Many thanks once again

Mark

Mark Craig
- Cranfield, UK

---

Mark

You have learned a valuable lesson about published papers on electrodeposition. What is published as "possible" under lab conditions is frequently totally useless in practice.
A valuable clue is solution concentrations. If these are quoted as molar, the author may be hot stuff on theory but is unlikely to be a practical plater. Look for g/l.

You may like to take a look at www.UK-finishing.org.uk

Geoff Smith
Hampshire, England
September 23, 2009