Effect of hydrazine and hydroxylaminophosphate on chrome plating from trivalent electrolytes

Abstract The influence of hydrazine and hydroxylaminophosphate on solution chemistry and quality of chromium coatings deposited from Cr(III) formate–urea baths has been studied by FT-IR, XPS and AFM. The results have shown that hydrazine and hydroxylaminophosphate differently affect Cr plating. The morphology of Cr deposits obtained in the formate–urea electrolytes is a typical nodular structure with a less nodular and smoother fine-grained structure of Cr obtained in the presence of hydroxylaminophosphate. Hydrazine, in contrast, worsened the quality and lowered the hardness of the deposits. The current efficiency of chromium increases in the presence of both hydrazine and hydroxylaminophosphate. This may be related with the ability of these ligands to reduce the CrH content in the growing Cr deposit. The data obtained suggest that hydroxylaminophosphate improves the stability of the active [Cr(carbamide)n(H2O)6−n]3 complexes providing good quality of the deposits and prolonged working lifetime in the formate–urea bath.