• Kurzydłowski, Krzysztof
• Broda, A.
• Boczkowska, Anna
• Bieliński, Jerzy
• Kozera, Rafał

Abstract

The investigation of the electroless metallization of carbon fiber is presented here in aim to establish the significance of main process parameters steering the Ni-P alloy composition and deposition rate (thickness of coating). The role of bath composition (Ni-salt, reducer, complexing-buffering additive, stabilizer, wetting agent), pH value, temperature and deposition time, as well as kind of carbon fiber, were the object of investigation. The requirements for Ni-P/C-fiber/aluminum composite fabrication limited the P-content to 2-3% and coating thickness to less then 1 μm. The metallization process, after proper carbon fiber pretreatment, was performed in baths containing: NiSO4, NaH2PO2, glycine, stabilizers and wetting agents. The pH was changed in range 4,5-8,5, temperature 60-80oC and deposition time from 5 to 60 min. As substrate for metallization the roving and fabric of Tenax produced carbon fibers (3-24k filaments with 7 μm diameter), as well as mullite test samples was used. The results of experiments, at limited changes of pH in bath, indicated that the ratio of NiSO4/NaH2PO2 concentration is the main factor determining the P-content and the Ni-P deposition time is the best factor for fixing the coating thickness. The increase rate of Ni-P coating thickness depend also on the kind of carbon fiber roving.

Topics

• Deposition
• impedance spectroscopy
• Carbon
• experiment
• aluminium
• laser emission spectroscopy
• composite
• pH value
• alloy composition
• mullite