An Investigation of Surface Transformations of Nickel Highly Porous Cellular Material with an Applied Alumina Layer during Its Synthesis

Abstract

For the development of a composite of nickel highly porous permeable cellular material with an applied secondary layer of alumina, transformation of the surface of the highly porous permeable cellular material is investigated at the stages of electrochemical synthesis and stages of alumina application on its surface. Etching of foamed-polyurethane bondings with 20% potassium hydroxide solution is accompanied by destruction of their surface and the formation of defective areas in the form of hillocks, hollows, and other imperfections acting as tin-hydroxide crystallization nuclei. Application of tin chloride with its subsequent hydrolysis leads to the formation of hemispherical tin-hydroxide grains with a mean size of about 80 nm uniformly distributed over the surface. The optimum values of temperature (50°C), solution pH (9–10), and electroless-nickel-plating duration (20–30 min), providing the formation of a conductive sublayer of chemically reduced nickel, are established. Nickel electroplating for 30 to 35 h at a current density of 0.1 A/dm2 yields high uniformity of a metal coating of foamed-polyurethane bondings across the thickness both in the bulk and at the outer periphery of a sample of 30 μm. A composite of nickel highly porous permeable cellular material with an applied alumina secondary layer is synthesized. The latter shows a high degree of uniformity and uniform thickness over the whole surface of bondings of the obtained composite.