TEM investigation of initiation of electroless nickel deposition on pure iron

In this paper, the nucleation and the growth of electroless nickel plating on pure iron were investigated by TEM. The results show that the initiation is inhomogeneous and its structure is crystalline and coherent with the substrate to some degree. From the composition depth distribution measured by AES, the initial crystalline structure is determined by its composition (phosphorus content) and there exists a process of dissolution ofFe substrate followed by codeposition of the dissolved Fe2ions with Ni, P during initiation.