Patent ID: 8425751

Claim:
A method of electrodeposition of a nickel-cobalt alloy having a target yield strength comprising the steps of: providing an electrolytic nickel sulfamate solution in a plating tank; adding a measured amount of cobalt to said nickel sulfamate solution to provide a nickel-cobalt alloy plating bath; establishing a correlation between the yield strength of an electrodeposited nickel-cobalt alloy and the concentration of cobalt in the plating bath; selecting a target yield strength value above 36 KSI; placing a part to be plated into the plating bath; placing a rotating cylinder electrode assembly with a plating surface into said plating bath for in situ creation of a test specimen; selecting a desired plating cycle duration to selectively produce a deposit of a desired thickness on the part; electrodepositing a nickel-cobalt alloy from the plating bath onto the part while simultaneously rotating the rotating cylinder electrode and electrodepositing a nickel-cobalt alloy onto said plating surface of the rotating cylinder electrode; while continuing to electrodeposit nickel-cobalt alloy onto the part, removing a portion of the nickel-cobalt alloy deposited on the plating surface of the rotating cylinder electrode and creating a test specimen; heat treating said test specimen; mechanically testing said test specimen at room temperature to determine a yield strength value; comparing the yield strength value of the test specimen to the target yield strength value to determine the necessary cobalt concentration in said plating bath; and selectively controlling and maintaining the concentration of cobalt in said plating bath during said plating cycle so that the nickel-cobalt alloy electrodeposited onto the part has the target yield strength after running said plating cycle.