Effect of nitriding temperature on the nanostructure and corrosion properties of Nickel coated 304 stainless steel

Nickel films of 150 nm thickness were deposited on 304 stainless steel and post annealed under flow of nitrogen at different temperatures. The prepared samples were corrosion tested in 1.0 M H2SO4 solution using potentiodynamic polarization technique. Crystallographic and morphological structure of the samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively, before corrosion test, and scanning electron microscope (SEM) after corrosion test. A clear correlation between the physical analyses (XRD, AFM and SEM) and the potentiodynamic results is achieved. The variation of corrosion resistance of the samples showed that the optimum annealing temperature is 673 K.