Effect of pH and current density on Nd-Fe-B thin films prepared by pulsed electrodeposition

• Main Author: Yeam, Chin Heng.
• Other Authors: Raju Vijayaraghavan Ramanujan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15368
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Ternary Iron Group (IG), Rare Earth (RE) alloys were codeposited from aqueous chloride solution with glycine acting as the complexing agent. The electrodeposition process was conducted with a dc current at ambient temperature in the absence of solution agitation. Variation of pH and current density (CD) on the morphology and magnetic properties of the resultant films were investigated using the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM). SEM micrographs from the annealed films suggested that a higher pH and CD produces a smoother film with a corresponding reduction in grain size. Compositional analysis through the EDX revealed a low RE content which may suggest the occurrence of oxidation. Further, film thickness obtained was reported to be low. Deposit with the best magnetic properties was synthesized at a solution pH of 3.5 and CD set at 100mA/cm2. Coercivity of the film was reported to be 395G Moreover, a relationship between the IG content deposited and CD was established in the author’s thesis which may serve as a good reference for future studies.