Adhesion strength of electrodeposited metal films with metal substrates

The paper considers the adhesive strength of electrodeposited coatings of nickel, iron, copper and zinc on copper and steel substrates. To determine the theoretical values of adhesive strength, a theoretical approach to determining the adhesive strength at the metal-metal interface is proposed. Based on the analysis of the adhesion mechanism and the nature of the contact interaction, the authors obtained an analytical expression for calculating the adhesive strength values for certain pairs of metals, however, finding the exact value of a number of quantities included in this expression, for example, the specific binding energy and elastic modulus, presents great difficulties. The calculation of the energy of interaction between the atoms of the coating and the substrate was carried out by the method of density functional theory. As a result, the theoretical values of the adhesive strength of nickel, iron, copper, and zinc electrodeposited coatings on copper and steel substrates were obtained, which are in good agreement with the experimental values of the adhesive strength. However, the existing discrepancies between theoretical and experimental data are caused by certain difficulties in finding the specific binding energy and elastic modulus, which are associated with the complexity of modeling the real structure of both the film and the substrate. Finding solutions to these issues will be the subject of further research.