Investigation on initial stage of electroless deposition on low carbon steel and pure iron

Initial process is influenced by substrate microstructure according to the study of initial stage of electroless plating on low carbon steel and pure iron. For low carbon steels, depositing on cementite is prior to that on ferrite; and for pure iron, the grain boundaries and some favourable grains are deposited more easily. The initial reactions of electroless depositing of Ni-P alloy have been tentatively proposed.