Enhanced tensile ductility in bulk nanocrystalline nickel electrodeposited by sulfamate bath

Electrodeposition is one of the fabrication techniques to produce nanocrystalline materials. In this paper, bulk nanocrystalline Ni (nc-Ni) was electrodeposited by using a sulfamate bath which generated low residual stress. In order to enhance tensile property of bulk nc-Ni, we investigated influences of glossing agents and bath condition on tensile properties, as these are reported to have an influence on surface condition, grain size and microhardness. It was found that saccharin contents and current density have significant effects on tensile properties of bulk nc-Ni. Moreover, we successfully obtained bulk nc-Ni displaying tensile ductility of over 10%. In particular, bulk nc-Ni from sulfamate bath with 5.0 g/l saccharin exhibited superior plastic deformation and good tensile strength (UTS = 1.2 GPa, epsilon(f) = 15%). We were able to develop the relationship between tensile strength and ductility to a higher level on nc-Ni. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.