Department of Chemical Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Tshwane University of Technology, P.M.B. X680, Pretoria, South Africa; Technology Innovation Agency, Technology Station in Chemical, Ga-rankuwa, Pretoria, South Africa
Sunday, F.O., Department of Chemical Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Tshwane University of Technology, P.M.B. X680, Pretoria, South Africa, Technology Innovation Agency, Technology Station in Chemical, Ga-rankuwa, Pretoria, South Africa; Popoola, A.P., Department of Chemical Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Tshwane University of Technology, P.M.B. X680, Pretoria, South Africa; Tau, V., Technology Innovation Agency, Technology Station in Chemical, Ga-rankuwa, Pretoria, South Africa
Improvement of engineering materials to avert corrosion, toxicity and to enhance the appealing value of steel has led to an enlarged interest in electro-deposition industries. The effect of solanum tuberosum (ST) extracted juice and Al dispersed particulate for Zn bath electrodeposition on mild steel from aqueous chloride solutions was investigated. The electrodeposition was carried out by adding Al particles and ST to a zinc-containing bath. Corrosion tests were performed at room temperature in 3.65 mol dm-3NaCl solutions by cyclic potentiodynamic and open circuit polarization. Characterizations of the electrodeposited coatings were carried out using scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM/EDS) and X-ray analysis diffraction (XRD). The experimental results show that significant change in the presence of the additives influences the crystal orientations, resulting into precipitation of ZnAl3.Si and Zn2Al5 phases. The change in structure can also be linked to a robust blocking effect of the cationic surfactant of solanum tuberosum juice and Al dispatched oxide films which might influence nuclei replenishment and impact smaller grain size.