Method of making iron electroplated aluminium materials

Abstract: A method of making an aluminium material which is electroplated on its aluminium or aluminium alloy base with iron or an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium, and which can be utilized as a new structural or functional material in various industrial fields. The material is characterized in having an inter-diffusion layer produced between the base and the plating and/or having fine cracks produced in the plating which can reserve well machine oil, work well for painting it, and be impregnated with a resin for improving its wear resistance and so on.

Description: This invention relates to a method of making aluminium or aluminium alloy materials electroplated with an iron alloy, by which a selected or the whole part of the surfaces of aluminium or aluminium alloy in the form of a sheet for example is firmly electroplated by iron alloy. The materials made by this invention can be widely employed in various industries including the automobile industry and electric appliance industry. For example, in the automobile industry, there is every indication that aluminium and aluminium alloys will be employed as much as possible in order to lighten automobiles, while aluminium or aluminium alloys as they are can hardly be structural materials for automobiles. In this view, aluminium or aluminium alloys, surfaces of which are iron-electroplated, have drawn our attention, because they have advantageous features such as good spot-weldability, and could therefore be used as structural materials for automobiles. However, an iron layer which has been conventionally electroplated to aluminium or aluminium alloy surfaces, peels off occasionally. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method of making aluminium or aluminium alloy materials, electroplated with an iron alloy layer which can hardly peel off from its aluminium or aluminium alloy base, or can hardly cleave or fissure. It is another object of this invention to provide a method of making aluminium or aluminium alloy materials, electroplated with an iron alloy layer which can withstand frictional and other wear. Attention is also drawn to the disclosure of EP-A-0289432. The present invention in one aspect provides a method of making an aluminium or aluminium alloy material electroplated with an iron alloy, which comprises: electroplating an aluminium or aluminium alloy material with an iron alloy; heat-treating the material for producing an inter-diffusion layer at a boundary area between a surface of the material and the iron alloy electroplated on the surface; and cooling the material; characterized in that the material is electroplated with an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium whereby fine cracks are produced in the electroplated surface of material. In one preferred embodiment of the invention the cooling of the material following the heat-treatment grows the cracks. In another preferred embodiment, the cooling of the material following the heat-treatment keeps the cracks as they are. The invention in another aspect provides a method of making an aluminium or aluminium alloy material electroplated with an iron alloy, characterized in that the material is electroplated with an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium whereby fine cracks are produced in the electroplated surface of material, followed by applying a thermoplastic resin for impregnating the cracks and coating the electroplated surface therewith or by applying a thermosetting resin mixed with lubricating solid particles for impregnating the cracks and coating the electroplated surface therewith. The invention in a further aspect provides an aluminium or aluminium alloy material electroplated at its surface with an iron alloy, having an inter-diffusion layer at a boundary area between the surface and the iron alloy electroplated on the surface; characterized in that the material has been electroplated with an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium, and the alloy electroplated on the surface has fine cracks therein. The invention in a yet further aspect provides an aluminium or aluminium alloy material electroplated at its surface with an iron alloy, characterized in that the material has been electroplated with an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium, and the alloy electroplated on the surface has fine cracks therein, the surface having been applied with a thermoplastic resin which coats the surface and impregnates the cracks or with a thermosetting resin mixed with lubricating solid particles which coats the surface and impregnates the cracks. In this invention, after surfaces of aluminium or an aluminium alloy were electroplated by iron alloy, they are subject to a heat-treatment preferably at a temperature between about 450° and 650°C, whereby an inter-diffusion layer of Al and Fe is produced at the boundary area of the aluminium or aluminium alloy base and the electroplated iron alloy layer on the base. The inter-diffusion layer enhances the adhesion of the iron alloy plating with the aluminium base, and works to prevent the iron alloy plating from peeling off from the aluminium base or from cleaving or fissuring. This is a characteristic advantage of this invention. The aluminium or aluminium alloy material which has been heat-treated as described above, has to be cooled. When the material is quenched rapidly at a cooling speed of 60°C/minute for example, fine cracks are produced evenly all over the surfaces of iron alloy plating. This is another characteristic advantage of this invention. Paints adhere very well to an aluminium or aluminium alloy material having such cracks on its surfaces. It will be noted in this connection that conventional zinc plated steel sheets for automobiles are necessarily coated at their surfaces by zinc phosphate films, so that paints can adhere well to them. The aluminium or aluminium alloy material of this invention does not need such coating for the sake of painting. The aluminium material made in accordance with this invention can be lubricated well, since its electroplated and cracked surfaces can reserve machine oil well, and can accordingly exhibit excellent wear resistance. Iron alloy plated and finely cracked surfaces of the aluminium material of this invention may also be coated by thermoplastic resins such as PTFE and nylon so that they can exhibit excellent anti-wear characteristics. When the surfaces are dipped in a molten thermoplastic resin, a part of the resin sinks into the surface cracks and solidifies in them at room temperature. Since such resin, which has sunk and solidified in the surface cracks, works as roots of other part of the resin which has solidified over the surface, the resin applied to the material can adhere as a whole to the material firmly. When the iron alloy electroplated aluminium material of this invention thus coated with a thermoplastic resin is subjected to sliding friction, for example, the resin becomes liquid by frictional heat and works as a lubricant. Iron alloy electroplated and cracked surfaces of the aluminium material of this invention may also be coated by a thermosetting resin which has been suitably dissolved by an organic solvent and mixed with lubricating solid particles of such fineness corresponding to or being less than widths of the surface cracks. The resin coat is heated, whereby the solvent is evaporated and the thermosetting resin is solidified so that the lubricating particles are fixed to the plated surfaces and cracks thereof by means of the solidified resin. Particularly, those resin and lubricating particles which have been adhered to the cracks, work as roots of the resin coating, similarly to the above-mentioned thermoplastic resin coating. Iron alloy to be electroplated to aluminium or aluminium alloys in accordance with this invention is an iron alloy viz., a steel containing 2 - 20 weight % Cr and suitably having a hardness of 800 - 1,200HV. When this steel is electroplated to aluminium or aluminium alloy, cracks are inevitably produced on plated surfaces. If it is desired to enlarge the cracks, the iron alloy plated material shall be quenched rapidly after being heat-treated in accordance with this invention, while if it is desired to keep the cracks as they are, the plated material shall be gradually cooled after the heat-treatment for producing an inter-diffusion layer between the aluminium substrate and the plating. The invention will be further described with reference to the following Examples 1, 2, 3 and 4. Reference is also made to the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a graph showing results, namely relative wear volumes under various friction velocities, of sliding wear tests of the iron alloy-electroplated aluminium material obtained in accordance with this invention in the following Example 3 and a comparative test material. It should be noted that the following Example 1 is outside the scope of the invention, because it relates to electroplating with iron. Example 1: (Not of the invention) After pretreatments (comprising degreasing, acidic activation, alkaline etching, acidic activation, 1st substitution with zinc, dipping into nitric acid, 2nd substitution with zinc, and so on, while water-washing steps in the pretreatments being omitted), a rolled sheet of aluminium alloy (JIS 5052) 2mm in thickness was electroplated to 10 µm in thickness at its outer surfaces by iron under the following electroplating conditions. Compositions of plating bath ferrous chloride 300g/ℓ ammonium chloride 20g/ℓ Bath temperature 50 - 55°C Current density at cathode 6A/dm 2 Current efficiency at cathode 95 - 100% Electroplated iron films had a hardness of about 399 HV. After water-washing and drying the aluminium alloy sheet thus electroplated by iron, the sheet was heated at 570°C for five hours in an inert atmosphere of N 2 gas under a pressure of 2 bar, and then rapidly quenched in a similar atmosphere at a cooling speed of 60°C/minute. Tortoiseshell-like patterned fine cracks which were produced evenly almost all over the iron plate, were observed by scanning with an electron microscope. The same aluminium sheet was iron-electroplated and heat-treated under the same conditions, but was cooled gradually at a cooling speed of 5°C/minute. No cracking was observed at the iron plate. By observation through an optical microscope and EPMA of the above-described two kinds of iron-electroplated aluminium alloy materials thus obtained, it was confirmed that inter-diffusion layers of Aℓ and Fe had been produced along boundary areas of the aluminium alloy base and iron plate. It was also observed that they had adhered closely and firmly to each other. They did not cleave even when subjected to 90° bending tests. Example 2: Rolled sheets of 2mm thickness aluminium alloy (JIS 5052) were pretreated similarly to Example 1, and an iron alloy containing about 15 weight % of Cr was electroplated to thickness of 10 µm on the outer surfaces of sheets under the following conditions. Bath compositions trichrome-plus made by Atotech Japan Co. as a basic composition, added by 40g/ℓ of ferrous sulfate. trichrome-plus having the compositions correspondent to those for trivalent chromium plating, and consisting of: basic chromium sulfate (tanning agent) 120g/ ℓ ammonium formate 55g/ ℓ ammonium oxalate 10g/ℓ potassium chloride 54g/ ℓ ammonium chloride 54g/ℓ boric acid 40g/ℓ Bath temperature 30°C Cathode made of insoluble carbon Current density 15A/dm 2 for first 5 minutes, and 10A/dm 2 for succeeding 18 minutes The iron-chromium alloy films electroplated on the sheets had a hardness of about 800 HV. It was observed by an electron microscope that over the films, there were produced tortoise-shell-like patterned fine cracks. After water-washing and drying the sheets thus electroplated by the iron-chromium alloy, they were heated to 570°C for 5 hours in an inert atmosphere of N 2 gas under a pressure of 2 bar, and then rapidly quenched in a similar atmosphere at a cooling speed of 60°C/minute. It was observed that cracks on the plated surfaces had grown further. On the other hand, when the sheets were cooled gradually at a cooling speed of 5°C, the cracks on the plated surfaces did not change. It was found by observation through an optical micro-scope and EPMA of vertically cut-out sectional structures of the above-described two kinds of plated aluminium sheets that inter-diffusion layers had been produced along boundary areas between the Aℓ base and Fe plating, and that they had adhered closely and firmly to each other. They did not cleave or fissure when subjected to 90° bending tests. Example 3: To surface cracks of the aluminium alloy sheets of Example 2 which had been electroplated by the Fe-Cr alloy but which had not been heat-treated, Nylon 11 was impregnated under pressure, and the surfaces were coated by films of said thermoplastic resin. The sheets thus impregnated and coated by the resin were made as stationary test pieces, while S45C of a sorbite structure (HQT) was made as rotary test pieces. With these stationary and rotary test pieces, the sheets were subjected to sliding wear tests, in which a pin-ring type wearing test machine was employed, and their contact pressure was kept at 0.49 MPa. The results are shown in Fig 1 by a curve of THIS INVENTION MATERIAL. For the sake of comparison, the same aluminium sheets of Example 2 were electroplated by iron, and nitrided by a gas permeation process for hardening the iron plating. After having been nitrided, the comparative test sheets were gradually cooled at a cooling speed of 5°C/minute. As the sheets had no cracks on their plated surfaces, no coating was applied on them. The comparative test sheets were also subjected to the aforementioned sliding wear tests, results of which are shown in Fig. 1 by a curve of THE COMPARATIVE MATERIAL. Although the comparative material had a harder plated surface than this invention material, the latter showed smaller relative wear volumes than the former. Example 4: To surface cracks of the aluminium alloy sheets of Example 2 which had been electroplated by the Fe-Cr alloy but which had not been heat-treated, an epoxy resin, a thermosetting resin which had been dissolved by an organic solvent and mixed well with lubricating MoS2 particles having a particle size nearly equal to or less than widths of the cracks, was coated, and then heated to about 150°C for evaporating the solvent and for solidifying the resin. The resin with the lubricating solid particles, which had sunk into the cracks and solidified therein, became roots which were in turn connected to the resin coating and worked to prevent it peeling off from the plated surface. The aluminium material thus obtained in this Example showed a good wear resistance which is comparable to this invention material of Example 3.

Claims: A method of making an aluminium or aluminium alloy material electroplated with an iron alloy, which comprises: electroplating an aluminium or aluminium alloy material with an iron alloy; heat-treating the material for producing an inter-diffusion layer at a boundary area between a surface of the material and the iron alloy electroplated on the surface; and cooling the material; characterized in that the material is electroplated with an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium whereby fine cracks are produced in the electroplated surface of material. A method as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the cooling of the material following the heat-treatment grows the cracks. A method as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the cooling of the material following the heat-treatment keeps the cracks as they are. A method of making an aluminium or aluminium alloy material electroplated with an iron alloy, characterized in that the material is electroplated with an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium whereby fine cracks are produced in the electroplated surface of material, followed by applying a thermoplastic resin for impregnating the cracks and coating the electroplated surface therewith or by applying a thermosetting resin mixed with lubricating solid particles for impregnating the cracks and coating the electroplated surface therewith. An aluminium or aluminium alloy material electroplated at its surface with an iron alloy, having an inter-diffusion layer at a boundary area between the surface and the iron alloy electroplated on the surface; characterized in that the material has been electroplated with an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium, and the alloy electroplated on the surface has fine cracks therein. An aluminium or aluminium alloy material electroplated at its surface with an iron alloy, characterized in that the material has been electroplated with an iron alloy containing 2-20 weight % of chromium, and the alloy electroplated on the surface has fine cracks therein, the surface having been applied with a thermoplastic resin which coats the surface and impregnates the cracks or with a thermosetting resin mixed with lubricating solid particles which coats the surface and impregnates the cracks.

Inventors: OIKAWA WATARU, TAKEUCHI EIICHI, OIKAWA, WATARU, TAKEUCHI, EIICHI
Applicants: NIPPON PLATEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1998
Main classification: C25D5
IPC codes: C25D5, C25D3