NANOCRYSTALLINE NICKEL AND NICKEL-COPPER ALLOYS - SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND THERMAL-STABILITY

Pulsed electrodeposition is a simple, yet versatile method for the pro duction of nanostructured metals, For n-nickel we determine the influe nce of the physical and chemical deposition parameters on the nanostru cture of the deposits and demonstrate that the grain size can be toned to values between 13 and 93 nm, with rather narrow grain size distrib ution. The thermal stability of our n-nickel as studied by x-ray diffr action and differential thermal analysis exhibits no detectable grain growth up to temperatures of about 380 K and an initial root t behavio r at 503 K followed by a regime of anomalous grain growth, For nanocry stalline Ni1-xCux (Monel-metal (TM)) we demonstrate that alloy formati on occurs at room temperature and that both chemical composition and g rain size can be controlled by the pulse parameters and by appropriate organic additives.