Electrodeposition of aluminum on 316L stainless steel from inorganic molten salts

The feasibility of electrodeposited aluminum on 316L stainless steel from AlCl₃-NaCl-KCl inorganic molten salts was studied. The surface morphologies, composites and microstructures of the aluminum films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrum and X-ray diffraction individually. The results show that the aluminum layer contains 99. 32 at% Al can be obtained on 316L stainless steel from the inorganic molten salts. The surface morphology changes obviously with the variation of the current density. When current density lower than 1. 5A · dm^-2, the aluminum is deposited in the form of a flaky, with the increasing of the current density, the form of the aluminum layer changes from flake to graininess. And at the same time, the size of the grains decreases. It is also shown that the thickness of the deposited aluminum layer linearly increases with the increasing of the electrodeposition time.