Electronographic investigation of the degree of preferred orientation of nickel electrodeposits

The influence of a polished platinum substrate upon the degree of orientation of 110]-oriented nickel electrodeposits has been investigated electronographically, in relation to layer thickness and current density. It has been shown that the influence of the substrate is restricted to only very thin layers of electrodeposited nickel. This influence decreases with the increase of current density, or with the decrease of size of the nickel crystallites.

The obtained experimental data are in good agreement with the two-dimensional theory of preferred orientation, when the epitaxial influence of the polycrystalline substrate is taken into consideration.