Abstract:
Presently, Low carbon steel is widely used in various industries. However, Low
carbon steel has low corrosion resistance. Corrosion affects safety issues and may result
in reduction of service lifetime. One way to prevent this is by electroplating, nickel
electroplating is the most common and frequently used in electroplating processes. It is
generally enhanced with additives. Gum is used as an additive for preventing corrosion.
Gum is also easy to find and cheap. In this research work, the effect of adding gelatin, gum
arabic and guar gum in a nickel electroplating bath at 5V for 25 minutes was investigated.
SS400 low carbon steel was prepared as a substrate. The morphology of surface coating
was also characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). It was found that an
average thickness of nickel coating is 45.791±2.538 μm. Nickel plating with gum additives
showed higher hardness than the one without additive. The hardness of nickel plating with
gum arabic is about 357±6.08 HV. Its morphology is smooth while morphologies of nickel
plating with gelatin and guar gum are uneven or crack. As a result of lower hardness. Gum
additives affect the color of the samples. The effect of corrosion was examined by using
the immersion in 3.5% NaCl solution for 24 days. Conclusion, using gum additives into the
in nickel plating bath provides low a corrosion rate compared to nickel plating without
additives. Nickel plating withgum arabic demonstrated the lowest corrosion rate compared
to other additives.