Electrodeposition and corrosion behavior of Zn-Ni-Mn alloy coatings deposited from alkaline solution

The potentiostatic electrodeposition of Zn-Ni-Mn was carried out in an alkaline solution with the addition of Mn salt.The effects of electrolyte Mn2+concentration and deposition potential on the surface morphology,phase structure and corrosion behavior of coatings were studied.The results of corrosion polarization showed that the presence of higher Mn content in Zn-Ni-Mn coatings could lead to the formation of a good passive layer with a 7-fold increase in Rp of coating and a significant decrease in the corrosion current density compared to those of Zn-Ni coating.The XRD and the XPS analyses from the surface of Zn-Ni-Mn after corrosion test showed that the passive layer was composed of zinc hydroxide chloride,zinc oxide,zinc hydroxide carbonate,and manganese oxides.

Enhanced selectivity of hydrolytic precipitation of Zn from Zn-Ni sulfate solution via chelation of Ni

The selective precipitation of zinc from zinc-nickel sulfate solution with the Zn/Ni molar ratio of20:1was studied.Dropwise addition of0.5mol/L NaOH solution into the zinc-nickel sulfate solution containing0,0.01,0.02,0.03and0.04mol/L ethylene diamine tetraacetate(EDTA)as a chelating agent was done.The equilibrium analysis of precipitation pathway was performed using Visual MINTEQ program.The equilibrium analysis showed that the presence of small amounts of EDTA can prevent nickel precipitation in alkaline conditions without any negative effect on zinc precipitation.On this basis,more than90%of zinc could be precipitated as a product with about50%Zn and only0.11%Ni at pH=9.0merely as a result of the presence of0.03mol/L EDTA in the solution.The stirring time of120min after precipitation was found to be essential for more complete separation.The X-ray diffraction studies on the precipitate revealed that the precipitated phase was Zn4(OH)6SO4.4H2O.

Nanostructured Carbide-Free Bainite Formation in Low Carbon Steel

It is an important challenge to reduce the carbon content in nanostructured bainitic steels for commercialization purposes while still being able to gain the desired microstructural characteristics in nanoscale and not to deteriorate the strength–ductility combinations.That is the point at which an appropriate heat treatment procedure design would be an important parameter.This article aims to investigate how to obtain nanostructured bainite in steel with 0.26 wt%carbon content by applying multi-step austempering procedures.One-,two-and three-step austempering processes have been implemented,and proper heat treatment temperatures and approaches were selected based on dilatometry tests.Results indicated that it has become possible to achieve bainitic ferrites and austenite fi lms with overall thicknesses of 164,145 and 132 nm and 134,105 and 90 nm at the end of one-,two-and three-step austempering heat treatments,respectively.Meanwhile,microstructural characteristics resulted in enhanced mechanical properties with ultimate tensile strength(UTS)of 1435,1455 and 1428 MPa in combination with elongation levels of 15.4,13.6 and 11.4%after implementing those heat treatments.Finally,it has been shown that applying the multi-step austempering heat treatments resulted in enhanced yield strength and impact toughness values due to the microstructural characteristics and proper heat treatment procedure design.

A new approach to zinc–nickel separation using solution alkalinization method:application to a zinc plant residue

The present investigation involves the separation of zinc and nickel from a sulfate solution using the acidic leaching of zinc plant residue after cadmium removal step as precursor(42.88 wt%Zn,8.50 wt%Cd and 2.33 wt%Ni).Separation of nickel from the solution was done by pouring it into a strong alkaline sodium hydroxide solution due to precipitation of nickel hydroxide and conversion of zinc to the soluble Zn(OH)_(4)^(2-)complex.Higher degrees of separation were reached by pouring more diluted solutions into the stronger alkaline media.To clear pursue of the process,design of experimental methodology was applied for experiments.Scrutinizing different washing steps on nickel-rich precipitates shows that the washing process decreases zinc content and thereby increases overall selectivity coefficient.Outcomes show that,at the optimized condition,Ni/Zn weight ratio in the solid product becomes about 104 times higher than the initial ratio in the initial feed solution and a nickel concentrate with 29.98 wt%Ni and 5.99 wt%Zn is achieved.At the same time,the chemical analysis of filtrate shows only 4.4 mg·L^(-1)Ni in the alkaline zinc solution,which means that over 99%nickel is recovered.The study on changes of zinc concentration with time shows that the process could be completed only after few minutes.