Crystallographic Analysis of Electrodeposited Zinc Crystals on Fe Substrate

Abstract

The morphology and the crystallography of η-zinc crystals electrodeposited on a steel substrate have been examined mainly by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray Laue back reflection technique. The morphology of η-crystals varies with increasing the current density from thin layered plates to dendrite structures. The layered crystals form directly on the steel substrate with a specific variant of the Burgers' orientation relationship described as {110}_α//(0001)_η and <111>_α//<1210>_η. The average size of these layered crystals increases with decreasing the angle between the <111>_α//<1210>_η close-packed direction and the substrate surface. These crystallographic features can be explained in terms of the η-crystal nucleation at the steps on the substrate surface.