Electrodeposition of Al-Zr Alloys From the Lewis Acidic Aluminum Chloride-1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride Melt

Published

July 1, 2004

Author(s)

T Tsuda, C L. Hussey, Gery R. Stafford, O Kongstein

Abstract

The electrochemistry of Zr(IV) and Zr(II) and the electrodeposition of Al-Zr alloys were examined in the Lewis acidic 66.7-33.3 mole percent aluminum chloride-1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride molten salt at 353 K. The electrochemical reduction of Zr(IV) to Zr(II) is complicated by the precipitation of ZrCl(subscript 3); however, solutions of Zr(II) can be prepared by reducing Zr(IV) with Al wire. Al-Zr alloys can be electrodeposited from plating baths containing either Zr(IV) or Zr(II), but for a given concentration and current density, baths containing Zr(IV) lead to Al-Zr alloys with the higher Zr content. This result was traced to the diminutive concentration-dependent diffusion coefficient for Zr(II). It was possible to prepare Al-Zr alloys containing up to 17 percent atomic fraction (a/o) Zr. The structure of these deposits depended on the Zr content. Alloys containing less than 5 a/o Zr could be indexed to a disordered fcc structure similar to pure Al, whereas alloys containing about 10 a/o Zr appeared to consist of an amorphous phase + fcc Al. Alloys containing 17 a/o Zr were completely amorphous (metallic glass). The chloride pitting potentials of alloys with more than 8 a/o Zr were approximately +0.3V relative to pure Al.

Citation

Journal of the Electrochemical Society

Volume

Fol. 151

Issue

No. 7

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Al-Zr, electrochemistry, electrodeposition

Citation

Tsuda, T. , Hussey, C. , Stafford, G. and Kongstein, O. (2004), Electrodeposition of Al-Zr Alloys From the Lewis Acidic Aluminum Chloride-1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride Melt, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=853325 (Accessed October 10, 2025)