Hammond 1960

Metallurgical Reviews
ISSN: 0076-6690 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yimr17
THE EFFECT OF ELECTROPLATING ON FATIGUE

STRENGTH
R. A. F. Hammond & C. Williams
To cite this article: R. A. F. Hammond & C. Williams (1960) THE EFFECT OF ELECTROPLATING
ON FATIGUE STRENGTH, Metallurgical Reviews, 5:1, 165-223, DOI: 10.1179/mtlr.1960.5.1.165
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/mtlr.1960.5.1.165
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THE EFFECT OF ELECTROPLATING ON

FATIGUE STRENGTH
By R. A. F. HAMMOND*, O.B.E., B.Sc., A.R.C.S., F.R.I.C.,
and C. WILLIAl\IS,* B.Sc., F.I.M.
1.-INTRODUCTION
ELECTROPLATING, as applied to improving the appearance and corrosion-
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 09:21 02 July 2016
resistance of the metals used in the construction of motor cars, bicycles,

domestic appliances, &c., is a process with which everyone is familiar.
It is not so widely known that electrodeposited coatings play an
important and expanding role in the engineering industries, not only for
providing corrosion protection but also for restoring to plan size worn
or overmachined components (" building-up") or for modifying the
surface properties of the component for some specific purpose, e.g. to
increase the surface hardness and thereby promote wear-resistance.
These engineering applications of electrodeposition are very largely
confined to the treatment of steel components and, probably for this
reason, there are relatively few references in the literature to the effects
of plating on the mechanical properties of non-ferrous materials. For
the most part, therefore, this review deals with steel as the substrate.
For engineering applications it is essential that, in addition to being
firmly adherent to the basis metal, the coating should itself possess
good mechanical properties and that it should not cause any marked
deterioration in the properties of the substrate metal. With suitable
control of the plating conditions, most electrodeposited metals can be
produced with mechanical properties equal, and sometimes superior, to
the corresponding metallurgical product and, as shown later, the
strength of the component under static loading conditions is usually
not adversely affected by the presence of the electrodeposit unless the
nature of the substrate metal is such that it is subject to embrittlement
by the hydrogen released in the pickling and plating processes.
The situation is different under conditions of alternating stressing,
however, since the electrodeposits commonly used for building-up or
for hard surfacing, viz. nickel and chromium, have been found in some
circumstances to produce a marked reduction in the fatigue strength of
the steel; for example, under unfavourable conditions, the fatigue
strength of a strong steel can be reduced as much as 80% by chromium
* The War Office, Armament Research and Development Establishment, Fort
Halstead, Kent.
METALLURGICAL REVIEWS, 1960, Vol. 5, No. 18.
166 Hammond and Willimns: The Effect of
plating. This limitation of nickel and chromium deposits is of great
importance, particularly in the aircraft industry, and much research
has been directed in recent years to elucidating the causes of loss in
fatigue strength and to overcoming the problem. The primary aim of
this review is to summarize the results of the more important investiga-
tions of the past twenty years or so on the effect of electrodeposited
coatings, particularly those of chromium and nickel, on the fatigue
strength of steel and to point such practical conclusions as have emerged.
Although thick nickel or chromium deposits are sometimes adopted
for heavy-duty corrosion or combined wear- and corrosion-resistance,

the electrodeposits commonly used for corrosion protection are cadmium
or zinc. These coatings are of low strength and are usually restricted
to very small thicknesses, and their effect on the normal tensile proper-
ties of the substrate steel is. generally considered to be negligible.
Nevertheless, when applied to heavily cold-worked steel or to high-
strength steels, these plated coatings are liable to cause hydrogen
embrittlement. Much research has been done on this subject, but no
attempt is made in this review to deal with it in detail. However, as
loss of fatigue strength and hydrogen embrittlement are to some extent
related and both problems are met with in electroplating practice, a
short treatment of this subject is included. A brief summary of the
results of research on the effect of electroplated coatings on stress-
corrosion fatigue is also included.
That we have found it necessary to quote rather extensively from our
own work on chromium and nickel plating, we feel does not call for any
apology. When approaching this problem some seven years ago, we
had the great advantage of having available the results of much valuable
early work which greatly assisted the planning of more systematic
studies than were possible when the field was being opened up.
We have been greatly encouraged to find the close agreement between
the results of our own work and those of earlier and contemporaneous
investigations, which, in the case of chromium plating especially, gives
confidence in formulating some fairly firm conclusions.
H.-ExPERIMENTAL METHODS
Almost invariably (and understandably) investigators have employed

specially prepared test-pieces rather than actual components for deter-
mining the effect of the electrodeposited coatings on fatigue strength.
The method of stressing in a few investigations was reverse-bending or
axial loading (push-pull), but in the majority, rotating bend tests of the
Wohler type were used. In our own investigations1-a we used mainly
Wohler-type test-pieces though confirmatory tests were carried out with
axial-loading specimens.
Electroplating on Fatigue Strength 167
Most investigators conducted their fatigue tests in air at room tem-
perature. In general, zero mean stress was used in the fatigue tests, but
in some investigations repeated tensile stresses only were applied. The
majority of tests have been based upon plain (unnotched) specimens and
usually only sufficient tests were made to give a fairly accurate estimate
of the fatigue limit, the number of tests rarely being sufficient to provide
a statistically reliable S/N curve. Only very limited data are available
on the intrinsic fatigue limit of the coating metals themselves.
Fatigue test-pieces were usually rough-machined by turning and
finished by grinding or polishing. Turning introduces appreciable
amounts of compressive internal stress extending for considerable depths

below the surface of the metal, whilst grinding can produce tensile
stresses of considerable magnitude near the surface. Such stresses will
modify the fatigue strength of the material, and this factor, coupled
with the removal of indeterminate thicknesses of metal from the surface
during the preparatory pickling or etching processes before plating,
could seriously affect the validity of the fatigue-test results. These
factors do not appear to have been taken into account by many investi-
gators, and it seems possible that some of the anomalous results
reported, and the lack of reproducibility observed in fatigue tests, have
resulted from this cause.
In our own work we have sought to eliminate this source of variability
by electropolishing the finish-ground test~pieces to a depth of 0·003 in.
and have found that the effect of electropolishing has been to reduce
the fatigue strength of the as-ground steel by approximately 10%.
In recent years other workers, e.g. Steer et al4 and Cina,5 have shown
that electropolishing of normally prepared fatigue test-pieces reduced
the fatigue strength by from 10 to 20%; this was attributed to the
removal of compressively stressed cold-worked material rather than to
any harmful effect of the electropolishing process itself.
It would seem however that, by electropolishing, not only will the
surface of the test-piece be reduced to a standard condition, but also
the fatigue limit obtained will be a truer indication of the inherent
properties of the material.
IlL-CHROMIUM
Electrodeposited chromium is extremely hard and, under norma

conditions, is chemically inert; for these reasons it is extensively used
for imparting wear- and/or corrosion-resistance to engineering compo-
nents. It is also widely used for building-up worn or undersized parts.
Although in the plating trade these processes are referred to as "hard-
chrome plating", the nature of the plating processes and the properties
168 Hammond and TVillimns: The Effect of
of the chromium deposit do not differ essentially from those of decorative
chromium plating except in respect of thickness, which, in contrast to
the very thin coatings used in decorative plating (r-O·00002 in.), com-
monly ranges from 0·0005* to 0·020 in. in the case of hard-chrome
deposits.
The chromium-plating solution generally used contains 250 g/l.
chromic acid (Or03) and 2·5 g/l. sulphuric acid (H2S04) and is operated
under conditions to give maximum hardness of the chromium deposit,
e.g. at a current density of 200 amp/ft2 and a temperature of 50°0.
Under these conditions the hardness of the deposit is approximately

900 DPN, and it follows that chromium deposits can be machined only
by grinding. In relation to its hardness, the tensile strength of
electrodeposited chromium is very low and similarly, in comparison
with the strengths of the steels to which it is usually applied, its
inherent fatigue limit is quite low (.......,22
tons/in2).
Electrodeposited chromium has negligible ductility and normally
contains internal cracks. It cannot therefore be relied upon to contri-
bute to the overall strength of the plated component. For many appli-
cations involving static loading or limited cyclic loading, this is no
disadvantage, since the chromium deposit normally represents only a
very small proportion of the total cross-sectional area.
Logan 6 in an investigation of the effect of chromium plating on the
mechanical properties of S.A.E.4130 steel of 187,000Ib/in2 TS, which
included tensile, tensile-impact, bending, and crushing tests, found that,
although the tensile and yield strengths of plated specimens decreased
as the plate thickness was increased from 0·001 to 0·015 in., these
properties did not fall below 91% of the values for the unplated steel.
The plastic deformation before fracture in the tensile tests became less
as the plating thickness increased, but baking at 200 or 440°0 (392 or
824OF);for various times, restored the ductility to a value approaching
that of the unplated steel, and Logan suggests that hydrogen deposited
on the steel with the chromium may be a factor in reducing the amount
of plastic deformation the steel can withstand before fracture.
When the component is subjected to severe alternating stresses in
service, however, the situation is different, since it has been shown that
the fatigue limit of the steel substrate may be reduced by 60% or
more as a result of chromium plating. This limitation of chromium
plating is of special importance in the aircraft industry, in which the
need for lightness encourages the use of steels of progressively higher
strength, and low factors of safety. To meet this situation, much
research effort over the past ten years or so has been directed to the
elucidation of the causes and means of prevention of the loss of fatigue
* Thinner coatings are used for application to cutting tools, e.g. drills.
strength on chromium plating, and in what follows an attempt is made
to summarize the results of the more important investigations.
1. Effect of Thickness of Deposit

Chromium-plated components are frequently subjected to low-
temperature heat-treatment to relieve hydrogen embrittlement (see
Section III. 4).
In considering the effect of the thickness of the chromium deposit on
the percentage change in fatigue strength resulting from chromium

plating, it is necessary to differentiate between" heat-treated" (baked)
deposits and deposits tested" as-plated" (unbaked). It is also neces-
sary to take into account the thickness range. For most applications
the thickness of chromium is 0·001 in. or more, and several investiga-
tors2, 6-13 have shown that for unbaked deposits in the range 0·001-
0·012 in., the percentage loss of fatigue strength is substantially inde-
pendent of thickness. The results of several such investigations are
quoted in Table I.
The effect of thickness in the range below 0·001 in. is open to some
doubt. Thus, Stareck et al.9 reported that with a proprietary chrom-
ium-plating solution, the percentage loss of fatigue strength was
unchanged between 0·00006 and 0·010 in., whereas the present authors,
in some work hitherto unpublished, found that with the conventional
solution and En 25 steel of 80 tons/in2 TS, the perc~ntage loss of
fatigue strength was substantially reduced, while according to Wiegand
and Kaisers it was increased at thicknesses below 0·001 in. (Table I).
As regards the effect of baking, in tests on En 25 steel of 80 tons/in2
TS, the present authors found that the loss of fatigue strength increases
with the thickness of chromium above 0·001 in., the effect being
particularly marked in the temperature range 100-300°0 (see Fig. 1,
and Section III. 4).
Stareck et al.9 also found that with chromium from a proprietary
solution, baking at either 350°F (177°0) or 750°F (399°C) resulted in a
marked increase in the loss of fatigue strength with increased thickness,
though in their tests this did not occur with chromium deposited from
a solution of a more conventional type.
Logan's work6 was based on deposits from the conventional solution,
although in some series of experiments his plating temperature and
current density were abnormal for hard-chrome plating. His results
confirm the conclusion that for unbaked deposits the percentage
reduction in fatigue limit is largely independent of deposit thickness
over the range 0·001-0·017 in. He did not systematically study the
effect of thickness with baked deposits, but for deposits baked for 1 h
13-M.R. XVIn
170 Hammond and TV illiams: The Effect of
TABLE I.-Effect of Thickness of Chromium Deposits (Unbaked) on the
Fatigue Strength of Steel
steel Substrate Chromium Deposit Fatigue Loss in Ref.

Limit. Fatigue
TS. Thickness. tons/in2 Strength.
Type Type %
tons/in2 in.
1·6% 54,6 Unplated - 29·2 - Wiegand

Cr Standard 0·0012 20·6 29 and
0·0059 23·2 21 Schneinost7
"
Cr-Ni 65·4 Unplated - 33 -

-Mo Standard 0·0016 30·5 8
0·0059 28·6 13
"
0·44 45 Unplated - 19·4 -
%C Standard 0·0014 16·8 13
0·0069 17·1 11
"
0·45 45 Unplated - 21 - Wiegand
%C Std.; 230 amp/ft2 0·00025 16·8 20 and
0·0011 16·9 20 KaiserS
" " 0·0025 18·1 14
" "
Std.; 460 amp/ft2 0·00016 16·2 23
0·00036 16·0 25
" " 0·0028 18·5 12
" " 0·0054 18·9 10
" "
Std.; 920 amp/ft2 0·001 15·3 27
0·004 16·2 23
" " 0·0095 16·5 22
" "
CRIlOt; 230 amp/ft2 0·00028 19·4 8
0·0025 20·6 2
" "
460 amp/ft2 0·0065 19·2 9
" 0·0035 20·7 1
" " 0·0072 20·4 3
" "
920 amp/ft2 0·0014 18·9 10
" 0·0015 20·4 3
" "
En 25 80 Unplated - 37·5 - Williams
Standard 0·0001 28 25* and
0·0003 27 28* Hammondl
" 0·0005 27 28*
" 0·001 24 36
" 0·006 21·6 42·5
" 0·012 21·6 42·5
"
60 Unplated - 27·8 -
Standard 0·001 20·6 26
0·006 21·6 22
" 0·012 21·1 23·5
" I
* Unpublished data. t Proprietary solution.
TABLE L-eontinued
Steel Substrate Chromium Deposit Fatigue Loss in Ref.

Limit, Fatigue
TS, Thickness tons/in2 Strength,
Type Type %
tons/in2 in.
S.A.E. 83 Unplated - 36·4 - Sinnott!O

4130 Standard 0·001 27 26
0·010 28·4 23
"
Unplated - 36·4 -
CRUOt 0·001 33·6 8

0·010 33 9
"
S.A.E. 97 Unplated - 48·7 - Stareck
4140 CRUOt 0·00006 32·4 33·5 et al.9
0'00012 32·4 33·5
" 0·0003 33·5 31·2
" 0·010 32·8 32·5
"
t Proprietary solution.
45
l1NPLATED- AS-MACHINED
40
tiNPLATED - ELECTROPOLISHED
---- 0
. 35
10
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a:
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Q.
30,.:-
~
40~
~
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III
III
g
60
70
80
5
o 100 200 300 400 500 600
HEAT -"TREATMENT TEMPERATURE:C
[Courtesy Institute of Metal Finis/lirtg

FIG. I.-Effect of heat-treatment on the fatigue limit of chromium-plated steel of
80 tons/in2 TS; this figure also shows that, whereas the fatigue limit is largely
independent of deposit thickness for unbaked deposits, it becomes dependent after
baking. (Williams and Hammond.!)
172 H anmwnd and Williams: The Effect of
at 440°0 (824°F) the loss of fatigue strength increased progressively
from approximately 16 to 26% over the thickness range 0·0015-0·012
in. We suspect that had similar comparative trials been carried out
with a baking temperature of ",,200°0 (392°F), the effect would have
been much more marked.
The evidence justifies the conclusion therefore that, for unbaked
deposits, the loss of fatigue strength of chromium-plated steel is sub-
stantially independent of deposit thickness for thicknesses> 0·001 in.,
but for deposits < 0·001 in. the evidence is inconclusive.
With baked deposits, however, the bulk of the evidence suggests that,
for a given substrate, there is a marked reduction in fatigue strength
with increasing thickness of deposit. This effect is particularly marked
at low baking temperatures (100-300°0), and the results obtained by
the present authors suggest that the thickness factor can be largely
ignored for baking temperatures above 440°0.
2. Effect of Ourrent Density

Wiegand and Kaisers have recently published the results of an
investigation which included a study of the effect of variations in
current density upon the loss of fatigue strength when a steel of 45
tonsjin2 TS was plated with chromium from conventional or proprietary
baths, respectively. With either type of solution, the loss of fatigue
strength increased with the current density (see Table H).
TABLE H.-Effect of Ourrent Density on the Percentage Loss in Fatigue

Strength for Oonventional and Proprietary Ohromium Deposits 0·002 in.
thick (Wiegand and KaiserS)
Plating Conditions Loss in Fatigue Strength, %
C.D.• Temp .• ·C Standard Bath Pty. (CR.llO) Bath

amp/ft2
230 50 14·5 3·5

460 50 15·5 6·7
920 60 25·5 9·7
The diminished loss in fatigue strength with the proprietary solution

at all current densities is noteworthy (cf. Sinnott, Table I).
3. Effect of Internal Stress

Electrodeposited chromium normally contains internal stress, the
nature of the stress being tensile. Its magnitude varies for different
plating solutions, and, for a particular plating solution, according to the
operating conditions (especially temperature). The effect of plating
temperature in the conventional hard chromium-plating solution upon
the internal stress of deposits 0·001 in. thick, as determined by the
present authors! by the bent-strip method, is shown in Fig. 2. We
25
20
•
•
o 20 30 '"'0 50 60 70
SOLUTION TEMPERATURE, "c
[Courtesy Institute of Metal Finishing

FIG. 2.-Effect of plating-solution temperature on the internal stress of chromium
deposits. (Solution CrOa 250, H2S04 2·5 gjl.; c.d. 200 ampjft2). (Williams and
Hammond. I)
conclude from the results of many such tests that the mean stress of
chromium deposits 0·001 in. thick from the conventional bath, operated
at 50°0 and a c.d. of 200 amp/ft2, usually ranges from 4-8 tons/in2
(tensile). The internal stress remains substantially constant at thick-
nesses> 0·001 in., but, confirming the results of many other investiga-
tors, we found that the mean tensile stress increases sharply at
thicknesses < 0·001 in. as shown by the previously unpublished data
given in Table III.
TABLE IlL-Variation of Internal Stress with Thickness in Ohromium

Deposits
Solution: erO, 250. H2SO. 2'5 gil.
Operating Conditions: Temp. 50 ± 1°C; c.d. 200 ampjft2•
Thickness, in. 0·0001 0·0003 0·0005 0·001 0·006
Tensile stress, 63 33 7·5 5 5

tonsjin2
I
17 4 Hammond and Williams: The Effect of
Since fatigue failure is essentially a tensile-stress phenomenon, it is
not surprising that the loss in fatigue strength of steel on chromium
plating has been associated by several investigators with the internal
tensile stress of the chromium deposit. Barklie and Davies 14 were
probably the first to suggest a correlation between the internal stress
of an electrodeposit (nickel) and reduction in fatigue strength, and later
Almen 15 made the same point in connection with both nickel and
chromium deposits. Logan 6 did not apparently carry out any deter-
minations of internal stress, but in discussing his results he concluded
that the reduction in the endurance limit of steel by chromium plating

is due, in part at least, to residual tensile stresses in the chromium. He
postulated, moreover, that since the characteristic cracking of chromium
"indicated at least partial relief of residual stresses, specimens having
the largest number of cracks per unit area would be expected to have
the lowest residual stresses "~ By inference, this would suggest that the
density of the crack pattern will be reflected in the extent to which
the fatigue strength is depressed by chromium plating-a relatively
small amount for numerous cracks and vice versa.
This theory received striking support from the results of a more
recent investigation by Stareck et al.9 He and his co-workers, using a
variety of chromium-plating solutions both conventional and proprie-
tary and confining their examination to unbaked deposits, counted the
average number of crack lines that crossed an arbitrary straight line
1 in. long on the surface of the deposit. Examination was made with
the naked eye and with magnifications up to X 750. They also
measured the internal stress of the deposits by two methods, viz. the
spiral contractometer and the bent-strip method. The thickness of
deposit on the fatigue test-pieces was 0·010 in. and that for the stress
tests was 0·002 in. The results are shown graphically in Fig. 3, repro-
duced from their paper. From this work these investigators were able
to deduce a simple expression relating the fatigue strengths of the steel
both unplated and as-plated (i.e. unbaked) with the number of crack
lines, as follows:
(1)
where
Fp = fatigue limit of plated steel in Ib/in2 X 10-3,
Fa = " "" unplated" "
(fatigue limit = 109,000 Ib/in2 for the steel used),
o = number of crack lines/in.
They also give a simple expression relating internal stress of the
chromium and crack density:
S = K1 - 1·3 vO (2)
100
x
~ 80
sr
--~ •
•
FATIGUE DATA
SPIRAL·STRESS DATA
..:
r A FLAT-STRIP STRESS DATA
::::;
::;
l:l
~
rx:
o
VI
VI
w
rx:
lii 20
o , 1000 2000 3000 '4000
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CRACKS I LINE AR IN.
[Courtesy American Electropklters' Society
FIG. 3.-Interdependence of fatigue limit of chromium-plated steel with internal
stress and crack density in the chromium deposit. (Stareck et at.9)
where
8 = internal stress in Ibjin2 X 10-S
Kl = a constant (given in the paper).
By combining the above expressions, they derived two further equations,
(3) and (4), showing that the fatigue limit of the plated steel decreases
in a linear fashion as the internal stress increases, and include graphs
for both unbaked and baked deposits in which this conclusion is
confirmed experimentally.
Fp=K2-8 (3)
Fp = Fs - (8 + Ks) (4)
where Fp, Fs, and 8 have the same meaning as before and K2 and Ks are
new constants.
Before concluding this brief summary of Stareck, Seyb, and Tulu-
mello's findings on the relationship between internal stress and the loss
of fatigue strength on chromium plating, it should be made clear that
they do not attribute the beneficial effects of high crack density only to
the effect of cracking in promoting stress relief, but postulate from the
results of another investigation that highly cracked chromium deposits
become compressively stressed owing to the filling in of the cracks with
chromium as deposition continues.
In an independent but concurrent investigation, the present authorsl
obtained results which fully confirmed the main conclusion of Stareck
176 Hammond and Williams: The Effect of
and his co-workers, viz. that the percentage change in fatigue strength
of chromium-plated steel is a linear function of the residual stress in the
chromium deposit. This was done in two ways: (i) by determining the
change in fatigue limit in the as-plated (unbaked) condition when an
En 25 steel of 60 tons/in2 TS was plated to a thickness of 0·006 in. with
chromium from a variety of baths, giving deposits of widely varying
residual stress (the latter being determined independently by the bent-
strip method); and (ii) by varying the internal stress of standard
chromium from the conventional bath by controlled heat-treatment,
the stress-strips being heat-treated at the same temperatures and for
the same times as the corresponding fatigue test-pieces. En 25 steel of

two strengths, 60 and 80 tons/in2 TS, respectively, was studied.
These results are shown graphically in Figs. 4 and 5 respectively;
those of Fig. 5 are discussed more fully in the following section on the
effect of baking.
-COMPA TENSION-
30 20 30

FIG. 4.-Linear relationship between the percentage change in fatigue strength of
chromium-plated steel and the internal stress of various types of chromium deposit
for "as-plated" (i.e. unbaked) deposits. (Williams and Hammond.I)
To sum up, the results of these investigations provide ample confirma-

tion that the percentage change in fatigue strength of steel on chromium
plating, whether as-plated or after baking, is partially determined by
the residual internal stress in the chromium. For a given steel, the
percentage change in fatigue strength is a linear function of the residual
stress in the chromium deposit. The relative importance of this factor
diminishes, however, with increasing strength of the substrate metal
(see Section III. 5).
20
-COMPRESSION TENSION-
30 20 30
EELDPH 400

FIG.5.-Linear relationship between the percentage change in fatigue strength of
chromium-plated steel and the residual internal stress in standard chromium after
baking. (Williams and Hammond.!)
4. Effect of Post-Plating Heat-Treatment (Baking)

Until comparatively recently, baking after chromium plating at
temperatures ranging from 150 to 200°0 (300-400°F) was commonly
specified for relieving hydrogen embrittlement of the steel arising from
the plating process. However, it was shown by Wiegand and Scheinost7
some twenty years ago that heating chromium-plated'steel at 250°0
(482°F) markedly reduced its fatigue limit. In the first systematic
study of the effect of baking on the fatigue limit of chromium-plated
steel, Logan 6 and other workers at the U.S. National Bureau of Stand-
ards confirmed the results of Wiegand and Scheinost, viz., that the
fatigue strength of steel, already much reduced by chromium plating,
was still further diminished by baking in the temperature range indi-
cated. Logan also made the important observation that, on baking
the chromium-plated steel at higher temperatures, e.g. 400-440°0 (752-
824OF), marked restoration of the fatigue strength occurred, though for
hardened steel (hardness Rockwell 040) the fatigue limit was not
restored to the unplated value. Similar results have been reported by
Wellinger and Keil,16 Oabble,17 and Stareck et al.9
In connection with the revision of British Specification D.T.D. 916,
the present authors carried out a detailed investigation of the effect of
baking at various temperatures on the fatigue strength of chromium-
plated En 25 steel of two strengths (60 and 80 tons/in2), the results of
which have been published.1 The conventional hard-chromium-plating
solution (OrOa 250, H2S04 2·5 gil.) was used, the thickness of plating
being 0·006 in. on the weaker steel and 0·001, 0·006, or 0·012 in. in
three series of tests on the stronger steel. After plating, the test-pieces
were baked at known temperatures ranging from 150 to 620°0 (302-
1148°F) under standard conditions, and sufficient test-pieces were
treated under each condition for the fatigue limit to be deduced.
Replicate series of stress-strips, plated in the same solution and under
the same conditions to a thickness of 0·001 in., were heat-treated at the
temperatures used in the fatigue tests, to determine the effect of the
baking on the residual stress in the chromium deposit. The results of
the fatigue tests are shown in Figs. 1 and 6.
33
32
31
15
14
o 100 200 300 400 500
~EAT-TREATMENT TEMPERATVIlE. ·c
FIG. 6.-Effect of heat-treatment on the fatigue limit of a steel of 60 tonsjin2 TS.
plated with 0·006 in. of chromium; see also Fig. I for results of similar tests on an
80 tonsjin2 TS steel. (Williams and Hammond.I) .
Baking in the low-temperature range (150-300°0) did not lower the

fatigue strength significantly with the thinnest deposit (0·001 in.), but
with the thicker deposits (0·006 and 0·012 in.) the pronounced fall in
fatigue limit observed by previous workers was confirmed. Higher
baking temperatures than those investigated in previous work were
employed, and it was found that at 450°0 (842°F) or above the fatigue
limit of the unplated steel could be approached or even exceeded.
The results of the corresponding stress/baking-temperature experi-
ments are given in Fig. 7. The close similarity between the shape of
this curve and those of the fatigue/baking-temperature curves (Figs. 1
and 6) provides further evidence of the close connection between residual
stress in the chromium and the percentage change in fatigue strength
(Section III. 3 above).
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~ 5 •
~
0
100 200 300 400 500 600

t£AT- TREATt.£NT TEMPERATURE, DC

FIG. 7.-Effect of heat-treatment on the residual internal stress in chromium
deposits 0·001 in. thick on steel strip. (Williams and Hammond.!)
* Mean of 23 results 5·5 tonsjin2; standard deviation 2·1 tonsjin2•
It will be noted that with increase in baking temperature the residual

internal stress of the chromium after cooling becomes first more tensile,
reaching a maximum between 200 and 300°0, and then, at higher
temperatures, progressively less tensile, until ultimately it reverses and
becomes strongly compressive. We have postulated: (i) that the rise
in tensile stress after low-temperature baking is due to the well-known
permanent contraction which electrodeposited chromium undergoes on
heating, and (ii) that the development of residual compressive stress
after baking at higher temperatures arises from, first, stress relief at
temperature, followed by differential contraction of the steel and the
chromium on cooling. (The coefficient of expansion of electrodeposited
180 Hamnwnd and Williams: The Effect of
chromium is only approximately half that of steel). We suggested
further that it is the residual compressive stress in the chromium which
is responsible for the recovery of the fatigue strength produced by high-
temperature baking.
From the results of all these investigations it can be clearly stated
that when the maximum fatigue strength of a chromium-plated com-
ponent is an essential requirement, low-temperature baking in the range
150-300°0 should be avoided. Further, that wherever possible such
parts should be baked after plating at a temperature exceeding 440°0
(824OF), and the data suggest that 1 h at temperature is adequate.

There are two practical limitations to the employment of high-tempera-
ture baking however: (i) the temperature must not exceed the tempering
temperature of the steel, and (ii) the chromium becomes progressively
softened with increased baking temperature. The first limitation
applies only to strong steels, e.g. those with tensile strengths exceeding,
say, 80 tons/in2 and will become less important when new types
of high-strength steel with high tempering temperatures come into
use.
It would appear that there is no way of avoiding the second limitation.
In an investigation by a colleague of the authors, Mr. E. S. Spencer-
Timms, the results of which were ultimately incorporated in British
Specification D.T.D. 916 but are otherwise unpublished, the data given
in Table IV showing the effect of annealing electrodeposited chromium
at various temperatures were obtained. Brenner et al.I8 obtained
almost identical results.
TABLE IV.-Effect of Heat-Treatment for 2-6 h on the Hardness of

Electrodeposited Chromium
Annealing Temp., ·C Hardness. DPN*
Nil (as-deposited) 800-900

200 small drop
400 >650
500 600
600 420
700 300
800 250
* Average values.
It would appear therefore that baking at 440°0 (824°F) will reduce

the hardness of the chromium to approximately 650 DPN, but this
should be high enough for many applications in which maximum
hardness is not the primary requirement, e.g. for corrosion protection
combined with reasonably high wear-resistance.
5. Effect of Strength of Steel Substrate

It has been generally appreciated for many years that the loss in
fatigue strength on chromium plating is more serious with the stronger
steels. The effect of the strength of the substrate was not systematically
studied, however, until quite recently. Stareck et al.9 as a result of a
survey of published data, reported that after chromium plating, using
the conventional solution, and baking, the fatigue strength was constant
at r-..J 30,000 Ibjin2, irrespective of the strength of the steel substrate,
over a range of tensile strength from 86,000 to 211,000 Ibjin2. The
present authors also found that the fatigue limits for conventional
chromium deposits 0·006 in. thick, baked at various temperatures,
were identical for two strengths of En 25 steel (Fig. 8). These results
imply that, for a given type of chromium deposit, the percentage loss of
fatigue strength on chromium plating increases linearly with the
strength of the substrate.
40
En 25 STEEL OPH 400 (UNPlATEO)
"z
~ 3 En 25 STEEL DPH 305 (UNPLATED)
~ 640"1: cr
t:~
::;
UJ
~
~ 10
--0-- DPH 305
-cr-- DPH400
o 100 200 300 400 SOO

HEAT-TREATMENT TEMPERATURE:C

FIG. B.-Data for O·006·in. chromium replotted from Figs. 1 and 6, showing that
the fatigue limit is independent of the strength of the steel substrate. (Williams
and Hammond.!)
This point was made the subject of a special investigation by the

present authors,2 the results of which are summarized below. Using
rotating-beam (Wohler) test-pieces, the fatigue limits were determined
for a variety of ferrous metals ranging from Armco iron (TS 21 tonsjin2,
fatigue limit 10·8 tonsjin2, hardness 99 DPN) to a quenched and tem-
pered En 25 steel (TS 80 tonsjin2, fatigue limit 37·5 tonsjin2, hardness
400 DPN), both unplated and plated with conventional chromium to a
thickness of 0·006 in.
With the weakest materials chromium plating produced an increase
in the fatigue limit. When the whole of the results were plotted, a
182 Hammond and Williams: The Effed of
linear correlation between the fatigue limit of the substrate material
and the change in fatigue limit after plating was established (Fig. 9).*
As part of this investigation a survey of the literature was carried out,
and the results, from nineteen different sources plotted on one graph,
provided additional evidence for the linear relationship.
A linear relationship having been established, it was clearly possible
to derive an equation relating the percentage change of fatigue limit on
chromium plating to the fatigue strength of the substrate:
L = k - 2Fs (5)
where L = percentage change in fatigue limit, Fs = fatigue limit of the
steel (tonsjin2), and k = constant.
20
w
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~ u
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~ 0
...:
~ 10
w
~::>
~ 20 w
u..
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~ 30 o
Z
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:I:
u
.olD
50
10 IS 20 25· 30 35 40
FATIGUE LIMIT OF STEEL, TONS I SQ. IN.
FIG. 9.-Linear relationship between the change in fatigue limit after chromium
plating and the fatigue strength of the steel substrate. (Thickness of chromium
0·006 in.; internal stress 4 tonsjin2, tensile.) (Williams and Hammond.2)
The percentage change in fatigue strength has been shown above to

be a linear function of the internal stress in the chromium deposit. It
is evident, therefore, that the value of k will vary according to the
internal stress in the deposit. The internal tensile stress in the deposits
used in the investigation was 4 tonsjin2 and the value of k in this case is
40. However, evidence is given in the paper which enables an equation
* In a subsequent investigation, linearity for steels up to 100 tonsjin2 TS was
confirmed.
to be derived from which the change in fatigue strength can be calcu-
lated for deposits of any known internal stress:
L = -2Fs - 38 + 50 (6)
where Land Fs are as before and 8 is the internal stress of the chromium
deposit in tons/in2•
It should be noted that with normal chromium deposits in which the
internal stress is numerically small compared with the sum of the other
two factors, the influence of internal stress is slight, and this is particu-
larly true for the stronger steels with which are associated the greatest
percentage losses of fatigue strength.
For many types of steel the relationship between the tensile strength,
the fatigue limit, and the hardness (DPN) is approximately linear. It
follows, therefore, that the linear relationship established for the
percentage change in fatigue limit after chromium plating and the
fatigue limit of the basis steel applies also for the tensile strength and
the hardness. This is evident in Figs. 10 (a) and (b) in which the
experimentally determined values of tensile strength and hardness are
plotted against the percentage change in fatigue limit due to chromium
plating.
to to ...
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10 eo 30 40 50 60 70 eo 50 100 /50 ZOO Z50 300 350' 400
ULTIMATE TENSILE STRENGTH 0' STEEL, TONSjlNt .HARONESS OF STEEL, 0 PH

Fro. lO-Linear relationship between the change in fatigue limit on chromium
plating and (a) the strength and (b) the hardness of the steel substrate. (Thickness
of chromium 0·006 in.; internal stress 4 tonsjin2, tensile.) (Williams and Hammond.2)
Equation (6) can thus be restated in the form:

L = 50 - T -38 (7)
or
H
L=50---38 (8)
5
where Land S are as before, T is the tensile strength (tonsjin2), and H
is the hardness (DPN) of the steel base.
It is now possible, therefore, to calculate approximately the percent-
age change in fatigue strength likely to result on chromium plating,
from a knowledge of the mechanical properties of the steel to which the
chromium is to be applied and-less important with strong steels-the
internal stress of the chromium deposit.
Universal application by designers of this advance in knowledge is
rendered difficult by a number of complicating factors. Thus, in many
hard-chrome applications the component is baked after chromium

plating and this not only modifies the residual internal stress in the
chromium to an extent, and in a direction, dependent on the temperature,
but renders the percentage change in fatigue strength dependent upon
the thickness of the deposit (Fig. 1). Although the necessary data are
available to enable the influence of these factors to be calculated for
defined forms of fatigue and internal-stress test-pieces, it would be
unwise to assume that the results would apply to components of widely
different shape and cross-section. However, this is a limitation that
applies equally to all laboratory tests, whether on coated or uncoated
test-pieces.
Now that suitable baking procedures for various applications are
becoming generally recognized*, there seems to be a good case for a more
detailed study of the effect of deposit thickness on the change in fatigue
strength of a medium- and a high-strength steel baked after chromium
plating at, say, 200°0 (392°F), or 450°0 (842°F). This might permit
the inclusion of a "thickness factor" in the formula.
6. Effect of Shot-Peening
It is now well known that methods of surface preparation imparting
residual compressive stresses to the substrate metal (e.g. shot-peening,
grit- or sand-blasting, rolling) have a beneficial effect in minimizing or
eliminating the loss of fatigue strength caused by electroplating. This
is true not only for chromium deposits but has been shown to apply also
to nickel and cadmium coatings.
The results obtained by Almen15 for chromium and nickel deposits
on a steel base of approximately 55 tonsjin2 TS are shown in Figs. 11 (a)
and (b), reproduced from his paper. In the case of chromium, peening
the steel before plating increased the fatigue limit to a value exceeding
that of the unplated (unpeened) steel. With nickel deposits, peening
the steel before plating markedly improved, but did not fully restore
* British Specification: D.T.D. 916
American Specifications: A.S.T.l\1. 177-55
Federal Spec. QQ-C-320.
70
60
50
(a)
X '10
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d CHROMIUM
~ 30
co. 10'
-' 70
vi
~ 60
c:r::
I-
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«
~ 40
o (b)
Z
30
NICKEL
106
·ENDURANCE, CYCLES
[Courtesy ••Product Engineering"

FIG. B.-Effect of shot-peening on the fatigue strength of (a) chromium- and (b)
nickel-plated steel. (Almen.16)
the fatigue strength, but peening the nickel deposit itself resulted in a
fatigue limit in excess of the unplated value. A recent reportl9 has
shown the effectiveness of peening chromium deposits 0·002 in. thick on
steel in maintaining fatigue strength. This is surprising in view of the
non-ductile nature of chromium, and it seems probable that the steel
underlying the chromium was, in effect, peened.
The recent investigations on the effect of peening before chromium
plating have confirmed that the improvement observed by Almen for a
relatively weak steel applies to much stronger steels, and have provided
much additional information.
Cohen20 has studied the effect of peening on S.A.E. 4340 steel at two
strength levels, 220,000 and 280,000 Ibjin2• The rotating-bend fatigue
test-pieces were peened to an intensity of 0·010 and chromium-plated
in the conventional bath to a thickness of 0·0035 in. With the weaker
steel, the fatigue-limit of the chromium-plated specimen was 12%
higher than that of the bare polished specimen and baking for 3 h at
375°F (190°0) increased the gain in fatigue strength to 18%. With the
stronger steel, the fatigue limit of the plated or plated-and-baked
specimens nearly equalled, but did not exceed, that of the bare steel.
Cohen suggests that a correlation exists between the optimum shot-
peening intensity and the strength level of the steel, and that a higher
intensity on the stronger material would have been advantageous.
14-M.R. XVIII
In a recent investigation 3 the present authors confirmed the results
obtained by Cohen, but, as the scope of the work was considerably wider,
a restatement of the main findings is held to be justifiable.
(a) Procedure
Two steels were investigated, both of Ni-Cr-Mo composition, viz.

En 25 heat-treated to 80 tonsjin2 TS and S.A.E. 4340 heat-treated to
100 tonsjin2 TS. Rotating-bend (Wohler) fatigue test-pieces were
shot-peened at varying intensities and chromium plated in the conven-

tional solution (Cr03 250, H2S04 2·5 gjl.). Specimens that were to be
tested without grinding, after peening or plating, were plated to a
thickness of 0·006 in., whilst those to be ground were plated to a thick-
ness of approximately 0·015 in. and ground to leave a thickness of
0·006 in. after grinding.
For shot-peening, cut-wire steel shot was used, the intensity being
controlled by air pressure, stand-off distance, and time of peening.
Each test-piece was peened individually and was rotated at 80 rpm f'"'oo"J
during peening. The intensity of peening was first established and

subsequently confirmed periodically by means of standard Almen test-
strips. The intensities investigated ranged from 0·004 to 0·015 A2.
The distribution of compressive internal stress at each of these
intensities was determined by stopping-off the Almen control-strips on
the back and removing the peened surface progressively in stages by
electropolishing until no curvature remained, the arc height being
measured at each stage. A typical distribution diagram is reproduced
in Fig. 12.
4 6 a 10 12
DEPTH BELOW THE SlJRfACE, IN. XIO-S
[Courtesy .American Electroplaters' Society

Fro. 12.-Stress distribution in Almen control-strip peened at intensity 0·012 A2.
(Williams and Hammond.3)
In addition to the effect of peening, the effects of surface rolling, of
grinding, and of baking were studied, and the investigation also in-
cluded tests (with unpeened specimens) on the effect of compressive
mean stresses applied mechanically during push-pull tests with an
Amsler Vibrophore machine.
(b) Results
(i) Effect of Peening.-The effects of peening on the fatigue strength

are shown in Fig. 13. Also included are the calculated internal com-
pressive stresses 0·002 in. below the surface at various peening intensi-
ties. The fatigue results are expressed in terms of the percentage
change in fatigue strength, taking the fatigue limit of the electro-
polished steel as datum, this value being regarded as the intrinsic
fatigue strength of the basis materials. They show a progressive
increase in fatigue strength with increasing intensity of peening and a
slight, though definite, increase in the fatigue strength of the unplated
steels produced by peening at 0·015 A2. The peening intensities re-
quired to restore the fatigue limits of the chromium-plated En 25 and
S.A.E. 4340 steels to their unplated values were approximately 0·012
and 0·015 A2, respectively, the effect of peening being to eliminate the
loss in fatigue strength of some 40-50% which would result from
chromium plating these steels without peening.
Surface rolling, although not so effective at the intensities used
.
En ZS STEEL UNPLATEO~
20 SAE 4540 STEEL UNPLATEO, '"
20
'005 '010 '015
A1.HEN INTENSITY (AZ)
[Courtesy American Electroplaters' Society
Fro. I3.-Effect of shot-peening before chromium plating on the fatigue limit of

En 25 steel (80 tons/in2 TS) and S.A.E.4340 steel (100 tons/in2 TS). The lowest
curve shows the calculated internal compressive stress 0·002 in. below the surface
at various peening intensities. (Williams and Hammond.3)
as shot-peening, had a broadly similar effect in increasing the fatigue
strength of the chromium-plated steel.
(ii) Push-Pull Tests.-The effect of compressive mean stress in in-
creasing the fatigue limit of chromium-plated steel is shown as a Gerber
diagram in Fig. 14. The improvement in fatigue strength with in-
creasing compressive mean stress was linear from 10 tons/in2 (tensile)
to 20 tons/in2 (compressive).
40
COMPRESSION TENSION
MEAN STRESS. TONS I SQ. IN.

FIG. l4.-Gerber diagram for unplated and chromium-plated En 25 steel heat-
treated to 80 tons/in2 TS. (Williams and Hammond.3)
It is significant that, with increasing tensile mean stress up to"-' 15

tons/in2, the fatigue limit of the plated steel declines considerably more
rapidly than that of the unplated steel. The effect of chromium plating
in reducing the fatigue strength will thus be more serious in components
subjected to tensile mean stress in service.
(iii) Effect of Baking.-In general, the fatigue tests were carried out
without baking after chromium plating. However, the high-strength
steels, for which shot-peening is particularly valuable as a preplating
treatment to prevent loss of fatigue strength, are specially prone to
hydrogen embrittlement. Post-plating heat-treatment is therefore
essential for such steels, and so tests were included to determine the
effect of baking on peened and chromium-plated steels. For this
purpose specimens of En 25 steel were baked at 200°0 (392°F) for 1 h
in air (U.K. Specification D.T.D. 916), and those of S.A.E. 4340 steel
at 375°F (192°0) for 8 h (U.S. Federal Specification QQ-0-320).
The results are given in Table V, which shows that, in contrast
to the effect on unpeened base, baking at 200°0 has no effect on the
fatigue strength of peened and chromium-plated steel. Similar results
were obtained when either the peened-steel base or the chromium
deposit was ground.
TABLE V.-Effect of Baking on the Fatigue Strength of Peened and Plated

Steels (Williams and Hammond3)
Intensity of peening, 0·015 A2; thickness of chromium, 0·006 in. ;
deposits tested "as-plated", i.e. unground
Baking
Steel Substrate Conditions Change. %
Fatigue
Surface Condition Limit.

tons/in2 From Elec- From
Type Batch
Tom";I"Uoo'
°C h tropolished
steel
Datum
En 25 1 Nil Anodically polished 21·6 -42·5 Datum

and plated
1 200 1 15·0 -60 -30
2 200 1 Shot.p~ened and plated 39'5±1 + 8 +80
S.A.E. 1 Nil Anodically polished 23·0 -48 Datum

4340 and plated
1 192 8 14±2 -68 -35
1 192 8 Shot-peened and'plated 45'5±1 +3 +95
1
It is clear, therefore, that peened and chromium-plated components

may be baked at 200°0 (392°F) or at even higher temperatures to
relieve hydrogen embrittlement without loss of fatigue strength. (In a
parallel series of tests, Almen strips peened to an intensity of 0·012 A2
were baked at 230°0 (446°F) for 30 h without significant reduction in
the internal stress.)
7. Effect of Grinding
(a) Peened Steel
Shot-peening (and to a less extent surface rolling) introduces con-
siderable roughening of the steel surface which persists after chromium
plating. Except in those limited applications of chromium plating that
require a static fit, grinding will therefore be necessary either of the
peened steel before plating (thin deposits) or of the chromium itself
(thick deposits). Grinding of the peened steel clearly involves a risk of
removing the compressively stressed skin upon which the effectiveness
of the peening process depends. Tests were therefore carried out to
determine the effect of grinding on the fatigue strength of the peened
and chromium-plated En 25 and S.A.E. 4340 steels.3
The extent to which shot-peening and surface rolling roughened the
surface was determined with a Talysurf instrument. These tests were
carried out, before and after chromium plating, on the corresponding
190 Hammond and .Williams: .The Effect of
Wohler fatigue test-pieces for each intensity of shot-peening investi-
gated.
The surface roughness (C.L.A.) increased linearly with peening
intensity for both steels, the slope of the line being slightly greater for
the softer steel, as would be expected, and the roughness was only
slightly increased by chromium plating (Fig. 15).
EnZ5 STEEL
200
'3' zoo
SA E 4340 STEEL
~z
••
~ 150
ISO
%
'"'"
I
:z:
100
100
w
u
50
~ SO
~
o AS-GROUND (UNPlATED)
'010 '015 0 ·OOS '010 ·OIS
SHOT-PEENING INTENSITY, AlHEN NO.(Al)

Fro. I5.-Effect of shot-peening and chromium plating on surface roughness before
and after plating. (Thickness of chromium 0·006 in.) (Williams and Hammond.3)
To eliminate the peening texture from a steel peened at 0·015 A2

required the removal of approximately 0·001 in. from the surface, but,
to provide a margin, 0·0015 in. of steel was ground away from the
peened test-pieces before chromium plating. It is clearly desirable that
grinding after peening should be kept to a minimum to avoid removing
the compressively stressed and work-hardened layer. To test the effect
of deep grinding, however, one series of peened fatigue specimens was
plated after the removal of 0·004 in. of steel. (The total depth
of the compressively stressed layer was approximately 0·010 in.
(Fig. 12).)
To test the effect of eliminating the peening texture by grinding
after chromium plating, an excess of 0'006-0'009 in. of chromium was
deposited, the chromium then being ground back to standard thickness
(0·006 in.).
The results are shown in Table VI (last column), from which it is
apparent that normal grinding, whether before or after chromium
plating, had very little effect on the fatigue strength and, in all but one
test, increased it. Deep grinding of the peened steel before chromium
I~
I~
I I~ I
I I I~
Electroplating on Fatigue Strength
191
plating, as might be expected, produced some reduction III fatigue
strength.
(b) Unpeened Steel

For all closely fitting or running parts, grinding of the chromium is
necessary to restore smoothness and dimensions, except for those
limited applications requiring only very thin deposits. The effect of
grinding on the fatigue strength is therefore of importance even when
peening is not involved, and so a survey of the literature on this subject
was carried out, the results of which are plotted in Fig. 16, in which are
included the results of an independent investigation by the present
authors.
on
••• -<
: 10 ~
:!: "
...
De
•..
~ 10
..•
::>
u
§ 30
~ 40
5 50
60
70
100 200 300 400 500
IIARONESS OF STEEL, V OH
'[Courtesy American Electroplaters' Society

FIG. l6.-Effect of finish-grinding on the fatigue strength of chromium-plated
steels. Based on published data.3, 6, 21 (Williams and Hammond.3)
The results show that grinding chromium deposits on small cylindrical

test-pieces does not reduce the fatigue strength and, in fact, frequently
produces a slight increase. This conclusion should be interpreted with
caution, however, since the conditions obtaining, even in good industrial
practice, may be very different. It seems likely, for example, that the
very limited area of contact when grinding a small-diameter test-piece,
coupled with the heat barrier presented by a fairly substantial thickness
of chromium, could prevent the heat-cracking of laboratory specimens,
whereas the same feed with a flat-faced wheel applied to a thin deposit
on a flat or large-diameter component might produce thermal cracks
in the underlying steel and consequent lowering of the fatigue
strength.
8. Effect of N itriding
Nitriding of the steel before chromium plating has been used in certain
applications in which it is desirable to increase the hardness or the hot-
hardness of the substrate metal. The nitriding process has also been
reported22 as inducing a high compressive stress in the nitrided layer,
and might therefore be expected to improve the fatigue properties of
the chromium-plated steel.
l\Iehr, Oberg, and Teres 23investigated the effect of chromium plating
on the fatigue strength of S.A.E. 4340 steel (Rockwell 0 32) both in the
normal condition and after nitriding. Their results did in fact show a
considerable increase in fatigue limit for nitrided, plated, and baked
specimens as compared with plated-and-baked specimens over the
whole thickness range investigated (0-0·010 in. chromium). However,
the fatigue limit of the nitrided specimens decreased steeply and con-
tinuously with increasing thickness of the chromium deposit, as did also
the fatigue limit of the un-nitrided specimens. It would seem therefore
that any compressive stress induced by nitriding, unlike the stress
induced by peening, does not prevent the propagation into the steel of
a fatigue crack formed in the chromium deposit, and that the improved
fatigue limit obtained on a nitrided and chromium-plated steel
results rather from the effect of nitriding in increasing the fatigue
strength of the substrate.
9. Ohromium Plating on Aluminium Alloys

Aluminium and its alloys are sometimes nickel or chromium plated
to improve the wear-resistance, and a limited amount of information is
available in the literature on the effect of these platings on the fatigue
limit.
Beerwald 24 found that chromium plating Duralumin reduced its
fatigue strength, but attributed this mainly to the effect of the pre-
cleaning treatment. However, heat-treatment at 180 (01) for 2 h0
after plating produced a further serious reduction in fatigue strength,

which, as noted above, is a characteristic feature of the fatigue
behaviour of chromium deposits on steel.
In a private communication,25 both chromium and nickel deposits
are shown to reduce the fatigue strength of Hiduminium RR 57 rolled
strip:
RR 57 Alloy " Fatigue Limit"
at 107 cycles, tonsjin2
Hand-polished 8
Chromium-plated (0·005 in.) 2
Nickel-plated (0'0015 in.)
Paige et al.,26 in tests on 75S-T6 alloy, showed that either chromium
plating or nickel plating from a high-chloride, low-pH, Watts-type
solution (" Pinner" nickel), reduced its endurance at 25 X 107 cycles,
but that bright nickel plating increased it (Fig. 17). They attributed
this increase to the residual compressive stress in the bright nickel
deposit, but the higher intrinsic fatigue strength of this type of nickel
would also contribute. These authors also studied bright nickel
(0·002 in.) as an undercoating to chromium (0·002 in.), but with this
duplex coating the bright nickel conferred no benefit, the fatigue
strength being the same as with a single chromium coating.
X 28
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24
20
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::>
o
~ 4
0
[Courtesy" Product Engineering"

FIG. 17.-Effect of nickel or chromium plating on the endurance strength at
25 X 107 cycles of aluminium alloy 75S-T6. (Paige et al.26)
The comparative behaviour of chromium coatings on a steel base

and on aluminium alloy, as revealed by these tests, is of some interest.
Thus, on a ferrous base of < 18 tonsjin2 fatigue strength, a chromium
deposit increases the fatigue limit (Fig. 9), whereas the" fatigue limit"
at 107 cycles of the RR 57 alloy (8 tonsjin2 only) was reduced 75% by
chromium plating. This, it is suggested, may be due to the low Young's
modulus for aluminium alloy as compared with that of steel. Since a
thin coating will take the same strain as the basis material, for a given
load the chromium will be stressed to a greater extent on aluminium
than on a steel base, and it will therefore develop cracks at a lower
applied load.
IV.-NwKEL
As stated earlier, thick deposits are used for heavy-duty corrosion
protection and for building-up worn or overmachined parts. The use
of electrodeposited nickel for these purposes is generally referred to in
the electroplating trade as " heavy nickel deposition". It does not
appear to be practised so extensively in the U.S.A. as in the U.K. and,
possibly for this reason, the effect of nickel deposits on the fatigue
strength of the substrate metal has not been studied so intensively as
has been done for chromium deposits.
Electrodeposited nickel is much softer and more ductile than electro-
deposited chromium and, as normally used, it can be machined by
turning, shaping, or milling, as well as by grinding. By selecting the
appropriate conditions of deposition, the mechanical properties of
electrodeposited nickel can be varied over wide limits and are generally
similar to those of low- or medium-strength steels, viz.
TS 30-70 tons/in2
Elongation 30-10%
Hardness 15G-400DPN
The tensile properties of steels in this strength range are not markedly
affected by nickel plating, as is shown in Table VII, which gives the
TABLE VII.-Effect of Electrodeposited Nickel on Mechanical

Properties of Steel (Hothersall27)
Specimens consisted of round tensile test-pieces 0·375 in. in dia. to B.S. No.
5005, machined under-size, built-up with electrodeposited nickel, and re-machined
to plan size giving a nickel coating 20% of the cross-sectional area.
Steel Substrate Nickel Deposit Tensile Properties
Hardness. Hardness. Tensile Elongation.

Description DPN Description DPN Strength. %
tons/in2
-
Mild Steel 183
{ None
"Soft"
"Hard"
170
280
42·0
39·7
44·8
14·0
18·0
12·5
Nickel-Chromium r None - 63'0 18·7
t
Steel B.S. No. "Soft" 194 56·5 20·4
5005/501 286
hardened and "Hard" 315 58·5 9·8
tempered
,-
results of tests on conventional tensile test-pieces nickel plated to give a

thickness of nickel corresponding to 20% of the cross-sectional area.27
In general, it may be concluded therefore that an adherent coating of
electrodeposited nickel, unlike chromium, contributes a quota of
mechanical strength proportionate to its thickness and tensile properties
relative to those of the steel base. However, nickel, like chromium
plating, can in some circumstances produce a marked reduction in
196 Hammond and TVilliams: The Effect of
ductility of the component due to hydrogen embrittlement of the steel
or, under cyclic loading conditions, a reduction in its fatigue strength,
this being largely due to the low inherent fatigue strength of nickel as
normally electrodeposited relative to that of the steel substrate (see
Table XII and Section VIII. 1).
The effect of nickel plating in reducing the fatigue strength of steel
was studied nearly thirty years ago by Barklie and Davies.14 In this
important early paper (which also included tests on the effects of copper,
zinc, and lead plating), these authors anticipated the results of much
subsequent work. In addition to giving quantitative data on the loss
of fatigue strength, they showed that this was greater for thick than for
thin deposits, postulated that it was associated with internal tensile
stress in the deposit (demonstrating the superior properties of low-stress
deposits), and attributed the mechanism of fatigue failure of nickel-
coated steel to stress concentration at the root of a crack which first
develops in the weaker nickel coating.
The results of subsequent work on the effect of nickel plating on
fatigue strength have been reviewed in a recent paper by the present
authors,2 and the account which follows is closely based upon that
paper.
Tables VIII and IX, reproduced from the paper, show respectively
the fatigue data obtained by Hothersall and Gardam28 and a summary
of data obtained from the literature, the references being included in
the Table. In presenting the conclusions from these data, the same
order is followed as in the section on chromium above.
1. Effect of Thickness of Deposit

Few investigators appear to have studied the effect of thickness
specifically. However, Barklie and Davies,14 Hothersall and Gar-
dam,28and Gadd13 all report that the percentage loss in fatigue strength
increased with the thickness of deposit (Warring 31found little difference
between" thin" and "thick" deposits, the small difference observed
being in the opposite direction; the thicknesses investigated are not
stated however).
In this respect nickel behaves differently from chromium, in which,
for unbaked deposits, the loss in fatigue strength is independent of
thickness. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed below.
2. Effect of Internal Stress

The correlation between internal tensile stress and loss of fatigue
strength observed by Barklie and Davies14 has been amply confirmed.
A high value of tensile stress in the deposit is associated with a high
percentage loss of fatigue strength, and vice versa.
There is strong evidence that, as with chromium deposits, a linear
relationship exists between the internal stress and the percentage loss of
fatigue strength, as shown in Fig. 18. In this graph, the stress/fatigue-
[Courtesy Institute of lIIetal Finishing

FIG. I8-Linear relationship between the change in the fatigue limit of steel on
nickel plating and the internal stress of the nickel deposit. (Williams and
IIammond.2)
limit results obtained by Hothersall and Gardam 28 for O·OOl-in.deposits

lie well on a straight line. Isolated results by four other investigators
extracted from the literature are plotted on the same graph and,
although for three of these sources only two points are available and
only three points for the fourth, it appears to be significant that the
slope of all the curves is substantially the same.
The internal tensile stress in nickel deposits can be reduced or even
reversed by the use of addition agents, e.g. sodium naphthalene tri-
sulphonate, in the plating bath. This effect is illustrated by the fatigue-
test results for Bright Solution A on the 43 tons/in2 steel (Table VIII)
and by AImen's results (Table IX).
It should not be overlooked however that, for a given steel, addition
agents, by increasing the fatigue strength of the nickel deposit, could
reduce the fatigue loss independently of the stress effect.
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part of the standard procedure. However, these authors found that
additional baking for 150 h at 900°F (480°0) only slightly increased the
fatigue strength from 28,000 to 34,000 Ibjin2•
Tigeot39 has investigated the effect of baking on the fatigue limit of
a low-strength steel (--- 38 tonsjin2 TS) after nickel and chromium
plating. The fatigue limits in all his tests were unusually low, but the
results (Table X) show that baking at 200°0 had no effect and that
TABLE X.-Effect of Baking on the Fatigue Strength of Nickel- and

Ohromium- Plated Steel (Tigeot 39)
Coating Material and Thickness. Surface Polishing Baking Treatment Fatigue Limit.
In. tonsjin2
Unplated Mechanical Unbaked 10·5

Ni 0·006 Electrolytic 10·8
Ni 0'000, Or 0·0008 Mechanical " 7·6
Electrolytic " 6·7
....
" " 200°6: 1 h 6·7
....
" " 300°0, 10·7
" 400°0, "
"
"
"
"
..
"
500°0,
600°0,
" .... 11·8
10·7
g·l
" "
successively higher baking temperatures, up to the tempering tempera-

ture of the steel (450°0), increased the fatigue limit beyond that of the
unplated steel. Not surprisingly, specimens baked at temperatures
exceeding this value showed a progressive reduction in fatigue strength.
The interpretation of these results is rendered difficult by the duplex
nature of the coating, but it seems probable that the increase in fatigue
strength after baking at 400°0 was due to the development of com-
pressive stress in the chromium deposit (see Fig. 7).
The mechanical properties and structure of electrodeposited nickel
are not significantly affected by baking below 200°0 (392°F) (Brenner
et al.37), whilst the reduction of internal stress resulting from low-
temperature baking will have little effect on the fatigue strength except
with very weak steels (see Section VIII. 1). It is concluded therefore
that, unlike chromium, low-temperature baking of nickel deposits
applied to medium- and high-strength steels will not materially alter the
loss in fatigue strength resulting from nickel plating in conventional
solutions containing no addition agents.
4. Effect of Strength of Substrate

The only data available are those of Forsman and Lundin29 (Table
XI). These authors studied the effect ,of nickel plating on the fatigue
strength of a variety of steels of different strengths. Their tests were
confined to one thickness of nickel (.-.20p = 0·0008 in.) and unfortu-
nately they give no information on the type of solution used, internal
stress, or conditions of deposition. The results suggest that, as in the
case of chromium deposits, there is a linear relationship between the
fatigue limit of the substrate and the percentage change in fatigue limit
on plating. However, the mechanical and physical properties of eleo-
trodeposited nickel range over far wider limits than those of conventional
hard chromium deposits, and it seems likely therefore that the position
and slope of the line will depend largely upon the thickness, tensile
properties, and internal stress of the particular nickel deposit.
5. Effect of Shot-Peening
As stated in Section III. 6, shot-peening has a beneficial effect in
reducing the loss of fatigue strength of both nickel· and chromium-
plated steels. The results for nickel are included under that Section
(see also Fig. l1(b)).
6. General
The results discussed above reveal a close similarity, and also some
differences, in the behaviour of nickel and chromium deposits with
respect to their effect upon fatigue strength. The picture that emerges
for nickel is far less clear than that provided by the relatively precise
relationships established for chromium. This is no doubt partly due to
the more intense effort that has been concentrated upon investigations
into the effect of chromium plating in recent years, but there appear to
be more basic reasons arising from the differences in the properties of
nickel and chromium deposits and in the electrolytes used for applying
them.
For example, chromium deposits from all the commonly used solu-
tions produced under all normal conditions are closely similar in their
physical and mechanical properties. They are extremely fine-grained,
brittle, and, apart from internal cracks, are substantially homogeneous
in structure irrespective of thickness. These properties are not depen-
dent to any marked degree upon the conditions of deposition within the
usual limits, and the solution is not susceptible to organic contamination
to the same extent as are nickel solutions.
Nickel coatings on the other hand may range from coarse-grained,
ductile deposits with a hardness of, say, 150 DPN, to a fine-grained, hard,
brittle type with properties approaching those of chromium; in anyone
solution this range of properties may be experienced, depending upon
the pH or the presence of addition agents or impurities. With the
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206 H amrnond and Williams: The Effect of
.'''softer'' solutions, the structure and properties are heterogeneous, the
deposit being relatively hard and fine-grained at the interface and
relatively soft and coarse-grained at the surface. Brenner et al.37 have
determined the .mechanical properties (including the fatigue strength)
of nickel sheets electroformed from typical commercial nickel solutions.
The fatigue tests (unidirectional bending) were carried out with either
the outer surface or the starting surface stressed in tension; the deposits
were,-...,.;
0·01 in. thick. The results are given in Table XII. .
TABLE XII.-Properties of Electrodeposited Nickel

(Brenner et a1.37)
Watts-Type Bath Watts-Tyve + (NH.)+

(vH 3'0, c.d. 5 amv/dmZ, (vH 5'5, c.d. 5 amp/dmZ,
55·C) 55·C)
.
Tensile strength, lb/in2 56,000 107,000

Elongation, % 28 15
Internal Stress, lb/in2 18,000 -
30,000 -
(15,000 ± 15,000)*
Intrinsic Fatigue Limit. Ibjin2 .{
37,500 -
(18,750 ± 18,750)t
•. Outer surface stressed in tension. t Inner surface stressed in tension.
These values serve to show not only the considerable difference

between the, inherent fatigue limit of the outer and the starting surfaces,
but also the very large differences possible between the tensile strengths
of two ductile types of nickel deposit. With nickel from the Watts
solution the higher fatigue limit of the earlier-deposited met~l, coupled
with the fall in applied stress from the outside to the interface under
bending load, would suggest that, for this type of ~ickel, fatigue failure
would probably be initiated at the surface of the electrodeposit, This'
would also provide an explanation for the greater percentage 'reduction
of fatigue strength with thicker deposits .. A further factor might be
the greater roughness of the surface with increasing thickness arising
from the projecting crystallites, the depressions at the prystal boundaries
,acting as stress-raisers .. For a given thickness, the surface of a chrom-
ium deposit is considerably smoother than a dull nickel deposit.
While marked variations in internal stress are observed in chromium
deposits, even greater variations can arise in nickel deposition under
normal industrial operating conditions for both solutions.
In the light of the above considerations it is not surprising that the
published information on nickel deposition does not exactly :fit the
.pattern established for chromium. There is sufficient correspondence
Electroplating on Fatigue Strength' 207
however for a reasonable conclusion to be drawn that the basic mechan-
ism whereby the fatigue limit of steel is modified by electroplating is the
same with both nickel and chromium deposits and is dependent on:
(a) the internal stress of the deposit, and (b) its inherent fatigue strength
relative to that of the basis metal.
Although the greater complexity of nickel deposition has so far pre-
cluded clarification of the conditions governing the fatigue failure of
nickel-plated steel to the same extent as is possible for chromium
deposition, there is definite evidence to suggest that:
(1) For the normal type of nickel deposit the loss of fatigue strength
increases with the thickness of the deposit.
(2) There is a linear relationship between the inteinal stress of
nickel deposits of a given thickness and the percentage change in fatigue
strength on plating; compressive stress in the nickel deposit favours
minimum loss of fatigu'e strength.
(3) For medium- and high-strength steels, po'st-plating he'at-
treatment at temperatures of the order of 200°C (392°F) will not affect
the fatigue strength significantly.
(4) For certain types of nickel deposit of a given thickness, a linear
relationship probably exists between the percentage change of fatigue
limit on plating and the fatigue limit of the steel base.
(5) Shot-peening of the steel base before plating, or of the nickel
deposit after plating, diminishes or may eliminate the loss of fatigue
strength.
V.-CADMIUM AND ZINC'
Cadmium and zinc are extensively used for the corrosion-protection

of steel, a purpose to which they are particularly suited, since, under
corrosive conditions, they are anodic to the steel and therefore provide
sacrificial protection. The thickness applied commonly ranges from
0·0002 to 0·0005 in.
The most serious practical problem that arises from the application
of these coatings to high-strength steels (and one common to most
electroplated coatings) is that of hydrogen embrittleinent of the steel,
a subject on which there is an extensive literature. In comparison, the
loss in fatigue strength of steel as a result of cadmium or zinc plating is
relatively uniniportant, and probably for this reason the literature on
this aspect is scanty. .
1.0admium
Forsman and Lundin29 investigated the plain (unnotched) fatigue
strength in air, tap-water, and 3% NaCI of a number of steels aft~r
208 Hammond and· Williams: The Effect of
cadmium plating. The thickness of the cadmium deposit was stated
to be I"-..J
5-10p (0'0002-0'0004: in.), but other experimental details are
not given. The results of the fatigue-strength tests in air are shown in
Table XI, reproduced from their paper. (See also Section VII, "Corro-
sion Fatigue".)
The stronger steels (fatigue limitl"-..J80,000 Ib/in2) suffered a reduction
in fatigue strength of 10-12% as a result of cadmium plating, steels
below this strength being unaffected.
Further results for loss of fatigue strength in air, reported later under
"Corrosion Fatigue ", are as follows: Sopwith and Gough 40 found that
the fatigue strength of a 0·5% carbon steel, both in the" as-drawn" and
in the normalized conditions, was reduced I"-..J 7% by cadmium plating.
Phillips,41 using a Ni-Cr-Mo steel, obtained· a slightly higher loss
(11-16%, depending on the surface condition of the steel).
In a more recent investigation by Wedden and Cooper,42 the effect of
cadmium plating (0·0003 in.) on the rotating-bend fatigue strength of a
series of steels of varying tensile strengths was determined, using both
plain and notched specimens. Two preparatory processes were
investigated: (i) anodic pickling, and (ii) grit-blasting.
The results were rather indefinite, for various reasons, but the
following conclusions appear to be justified: .
(i) On a steel of 85 tons/in2 TS, with plain (unnotched) specimens,
the combined processes of anodic pickling and plating reduced the
fatigue limit by some 25%.
(ii) In a comparable series of experiments, anodic pickling alone
produced a similar reduction in fatigue strength, and the indications
were that the cadmium deposit had very little effect.
(iii) Residual surface stresses introduced by machining played an
important part in determining the fatigue limit, e.g. a steel of 112
tons/in2 TS, machined in such a way as to produce abnormally high
compressive stress, suffered no loss of fatigue strength on cadmium
plating; this anomalous result was attributed to residual compressive
stresses in the steel which were not completely removed in the prelimi-
nary anodic pickling process.
(iv) Cadmium plating notched specimens of a steel of 112 tons/in2
TS, without any preparatory treatment other than alkali derusting,
caused a reduction of 22% in fatigue limit. This contrasts with· the
apparently zero effect of cadmium plating per se on.plain specimens and
may have been due to hydrogen embrittlement (see Section VI).
(v) Grit-blasting* as a preparatory treatment had a markedly
* Grit-blasting consisted in applying compressed air at 321b/in2 and No. 30
+
angular grit, chilled cast iron (30% retained on B.S. Sieve No. 30,50% retained
on B.S. Sieve No.+ 60). .
beneficial effect on the fatigue strength both of plain and of notched
specimens.
_The beneficial effect of grit-blasting agrees with the results of previous
workers, e.g. Forsman and Lundin 29 (Table XI), who used sand-blasting,
and Gustafson.43 The latter carried out extensive tests on the effect
of cadmium, zinc, and tin coatings on the fatigue limit of steel springs
shot-peened before plating. Cadmium plating had no effect on the
fatigue life of the springs and was superior to either zinc or tin in this
respect.
2. ZiM
Love44 lists the results of early work on the effect of zinc coatings,
both electroplated and hot-dipped, on the fatigue strength of steel, and
the part of his original Table IX relating to electroplating is reproduced
as Table XIII, below.
TABLE XIII.-The Effect of ZiM Plating on the Fatigue Strength of
Steels (Love 44)
Fatigue Change of
Tensile Strength
Steel Strength. Unvlated. Strength Due Ref.
tons/lnZ tons/lnZ* to Plating. %
0·02%C (hot.rolled) 20 ± 12·1 Swanger and
}
+ 1·8
0·45%C (tempered) 46 ± 20·8 + 5·5 France45
0·72%C (annealed) 41 ± 15'6 0
0-72%C (tempered) 75 ± 42 +11
0·14%0 - ± 32 +3 L Barklie and

J Davies 14
(j·5%C Wire (as-drawn) 65 ±

0·5%C Wire (normalized) 43 ±
24·5
16·4 -2
0
} and
Sopwith
Gough 4O
* Rotating beam.
These results indicate that zinc plating steels of various strengths up

to 75 tons/in2 TS has no adverse effect on the fatigue limit and may
indeed improve it. The part of Love's Table IX which is not repro-
duced shows very clearly that, in contrast to electroplated zinc coatings,
hot-dipped coatings may produce a serious reduction in fatigue strength.
More recent work by Forsman and Lundin 29 in general confirms these
findings (Table XI). Thus, steels of r-..J 80,000 Ib/in2 fatigue limit
suffered only a slight reduction in fatigue strength by electroplating,
but a large reduction by hot galvanizing. Below this strength the
fatigue limit was usually slightly increased by electroplating and
slightly reduced by hot galvanizing.
21 0 Hammond and Williams: The Effect of
Steele,46 experimenting with small helical steel springs, showed that
zinc plating slightly reduced the fatigue strength. Allsop,47in tests of
zinc-plated coatings of thicknesses ranging from 0·0005 to 0·003 in.,
found that the fatigue limit fell progressively with increasing thickness
and that for coatings of 0·001 in. or more it was less than that of the
unplated steel.
The bulk of the evidence therefore points conclusively to the fact that
electroplating with zinc deposits of the normal thickness does not
significantly reduce, and may even slightly increase, the fatigue limit of
steel. The only contrary evidence which has come to our notice is the
work of Gustafson.43 This investigator, working with shot-peened steel

springs plated with either cadmium, zinc, or tin, found that the zinc
plating (unlike cadmium plating) produced a marked reduction in
fatigue strength.
3. Conclusion
Cadmium and zinc electrodeposits are very weak and ductile in
comparison with even low-strength steels, and when these coatings fail
by fatigue the fatigue cracks are unlikely to produce effective stress
concentration at the surface of the steel. It is unlikely therefore that
such coatings would have a direct mechanical effect on the fatigue
strength of the steel base. This is confirmed by the results of the
majority of fatigue tests reported. When a material reduction in the
fatigue strength occurs as a result of zinc or cadmium plating, this is
likely to be due to the partial removal of residual compressive machining
stresses during the preparatory etching or pickling process. A further
possibility lies in the absorption of hydrogen into the steel and its
retention by these relatively impervious coatings (see Sections VI. 1
and VIII.· 3).
VI.-H YDROGEN EMBRITTLEMENT
1. Methods of Elimination
Hydrogen embrittlement of steel resulting from pickling and plating
processes is a problem, the practical importance of which has been
greatly accentuated in recent years by the increasing use of high-
strength materials. In the case of zinc and cadmium plating, at least,
hydrogen embrittlement rather than loss of fatigue strength constitutes
the major difficulty.
In electroplating processes hydrogen can be introduced into the steel
from two sources: (1) hydrogen released during a preliminary acid
pickling process and (2) hydrogen codeposited during the plating process,
the cathode efficiency of metal deposition for the electroplated coatings
in common use normally being substantially < 100% (in chromium
plating it is as low as 10-15%).
Hydrogen has little effect on the mechanical properties of steel at
applied stresses below the elastic limit; nor does it apparently affect
significantly the rotating-bend fatigue strength of unnotched steel.
The presence of hydrogen does not reduce the impact strength of steels
to any significant extent or the tensile properties under relatively rapid
loading conditions. However, it may seriously reduce the ductility at
low rates of strain and, most important, can give rise to delayed failure
(" static fatigue") of high-strength steels at applied stresses far below
the conventional yield strength. Nevertheless steels are not perma-

nently damaged by the introduction and removal of hydrogen unless
simultaneously subjected for a certain minimum time to tensile stress,
either internal or applied, above a critical limit.
The mechanism of delayed failure and the kinetics of crack propaga-
tion have been studied by Troian048 and his co-workers, who suggest
that a crack will initiate when a critical combination of hydrogen
concentration and triaxial stress state is attained locally, e.g. in the
vicinity of a notch.
The concentration of hydrogen necessary to induce cracking under
given conditions of stress varies according to the strength of the steel.
Thus, in low-strength steels hydrogen embrittlement is a transient
phenomenon and, with uncoated specimens, on storage for 1-4 weeks at
room temperature it largely disappears as a result of redistribution or re-
lease of the hydrogen. In high-strength steels, however, heat-treatment
at"", 200°0 for many hours may be necessary to reduce the hydrogen
concentration to below the critical level. In this connection it now
seems to be generally recognized that, except for heavily cold-worked
steels, hydrogen embrittlement as a practical problem does not arise for
steels at strength levels below S0-90 tons/in2 TS.
From the practical point of view the problem of counteracting the
tendency to hydrogen embrittlement in electroplating processes con-
sists in reducing the hydrogen concentration in the steel to a "safe"
level. Frohmberg et al.49 have shown that hydrogen produced by
cathodic charging (analogous to the conditions obtaining in electro-
plating) is at first largely concentrated in the surface layers of the steel.
With unplated specimens, on storage-or more rapidly on heat-treat-
ment-this hydrogen will be partly released to the atmosphere and
partly redistributed by diffusion inwards, producing ultimately a lower
and uniform concentration in the body of the steel. To eliminate
hydrogen embrittlement this equilibrium hydrogen concentration must
be reduced to below the critical level. When, as is frequently the case,
the plating is confined to a portion only of the component, outward
diffusion of the hydrogen during a low-temperature heat-treatment can
proceed unimpeded. Similarly, if the coating metal, e.g. nickel or
chromium, is permeable to hydrogen, release to the atmosphere can
take place and low-temperature heat-treatment for a relatively short
time is effective in relieving embrittlement. Low-temperature baking
of chromium-plated steel may accentuate the loss in fatigue strength
however (Section III. 4).
The major problem arises with coatings that are impervious to
hydrogen, notably cadmium, especially when the whole area of the
component is plated. In this case short-period heat-treatment will

merely serve to lower the concentration of hydrogen near the surface
and to distribute it uniformly throughout the steel. Long baking times
are therefore commonly specified for cadmium-plated steel, e.g. up to
24 h at"", 400°F (200°C) for very strong steels.
In addition to the solution of the embrittlement problem by' pro-
longed baking, considerable effort has been devoted in recent years to
minimizing the hydrogen uptake during the pickling and plating
processes, and there is some doubt as to which of these processes is
mainly responsible for embrittlement. Gurklis et al.50 claim that the
hydrogen evolved during cadmium plating does not contribute measur-
ably to the embrittlement and have shown that precleaning methods
that avoid simple acid pickling or cathodic treatment, e.g. anodic
etching, represent safe procedures. Other authors have either sought
to reduce the amount of hydrogen produced during cadmium plating by
using high-efficiency plating solutions or to render the cadmium deposit
permeable. Thus Johnson et al.51 recommend cadmium plating in two
stages. The first (thin) coating is followed by baking to release the
hydrogen and serves as a barrier to prevent hydrogen penetrating to the
steel during the second (thicker) plating process. Cash and Scheuer-
man 52 advise dry blasting with alumina in place of acid etching as a
pretreatment, followed by cadmium plating in a bath free from bright-
eners, under conditions designed to give a porous coating which will
allow egress of hydrogen during baking at 400°F. Cotton 53 also
suggests a porous cadmium deposit and the use of high plating-current
densities to increase the cathode efficiency. He also claims to have
obtained reduced embrittlement by cadmium plating in a high-efficiency
fluoborate bath. According to Vlannes et al.54 cadmium-plating baths
consisting of either: (a) an ammoniacal cadmium sulphate solution
containing the ammonium salt of glycine, (b) a methanol solution of
cadmium acetate, or (0) an aqueous tri-ethanolamine-cadmium sulphate
solution, are far less embrittling than the conventional cadmium
cyanide bath.
Steels with a high silicon content have been shown to be less suscep-
tible to hydrogen embrittlement than normal steels,53 and this is
supported by Klier et al.55 who also suggest that embrittlement is
minimized by a low carbon content. Thus, selection of an appropriate
composition for the steel to be plated provides an alternative approach
to this problem.
2. Relation to Fatigue Strength

Hydrogen embrittlement does not affect the rotating bend fatigue
limit of unnotched bare steel, 56.57 but it appears possible that it may
influence the fatigue strength of plated steels, particularly at high levels
of applied stress. Thus, in the case of nickel or chromium deposits on
strong steels, for example, the fatigue crack in the coating that develops
initially will constitute a very sharp notch (see Section VIII). The
effect of the notch will be to increase considerably the nominal stress in
the steel in its immediate vicinity. In the absence of adsorbed hydro-
gen in the steel, such very high stress concentrations could be relieved
by plastic deformation of the steel, but this stress relief could not take
place if the steel were embrittled locally by hydrogen. The effect
would be to reduce the effective fatigue limit of the plated steel or, at
very high stresses, to reduce the endurance.
A further possibility arises in connection with zinc or cadmium
coatings on steel. These are anodic to the substrate and :rp.aywell be
porous, or become so through accidental damage. Under wet corrosive
conditions local cells will be set up at the sites of discontinuities, hydro-
gen being released on the exposed steel (the cathode). With a very
high-tensile steel containing a notch, e.g. a screw-thread, the resulting
embrittlement may be sufficient to initiate a crack in the surface of the
steel, thus reducing the fatigue strength of the component.
VII.-CoRROSION FATIGUE
.The tensile properties of many metals are markedly depressed in
corrosive environments, and there is an extensive literature on stress-
corrosion. In contrast, relatively little has been done to investigate
the effect of corrosive environments on the fatigue properties of metals,
most fatigue tests being carried out in air, in spite of the fact that
electroplated coatings are intended to combat corrosive influences
encountered in service.
It is well known that the combined. effect of cyclic stressing and
corrosion on the mechanical properties of steel is much more pronounced
than either condition alone, and several authors 58.59have pointed out
that a highly stressed coating like nickel, which has a marked effect in
reducing the fatigue strength of steel in air, may have a beneficial effect
on the fatigue strength under corrosive conditions.
It is clear that cathodic coatings such as nickel or chromium can be
effective in reducing corrosion fatigue only if they are continuous (i.e.
free from cracks or pores) as plated, and if they remain so in service.
However, since both these coatings have a relatively low intrinsic
fatigue strength in comparison with medium- and high-strength steels,
they will become discontinuous at a relatively low stress level owing to
the development of fatigue cracks. These will permit access of the
corrosive medium to the steel base at the root of the fatigue cracks,
where the cyclic stresses will be unusually high on account of the notch
effect of the crack. Coatings that are cathodic to the steel base are
therefore likely to be of only a limited value in preventing corrosion
fatigue.
Anodic coatings (zinc and cadmium), which during the greater part
of their life provide electrochemical protection to the steel exposed at
discontinuities, would be expected to improve the corrosion-fatigue
strength, and this has been confirmed by a number of investigators.
Sopwith and Gough 40 reported tests carried out on the corrosion-
fatigue strength of a 0'5% carbon steel after electroplating with either
zinc or cadmium. The steel was tested in the as-drawn and as-norma-
lized conditions both in air and in salt spray (3% salt in distilled water).
Their data indicated that zinc plating did not apparently affect the
fatigue limit in air, in agreement with previous investigations, and that
cadmium plating decreased the fatigue limit by only"-J 7%:
Fatigue Limit in Air, tons/in2
As-drawn Normalized
Unplated 24·5 16·4
Zinc-plated 24·4 16·1
Cadmium-plated 22·8 15·2
The corrosion-fatigue results are shown in Fig. 19; the corrosion-

fatigue strength (at 2 X 107 cycles) of these steels after zinc plating was
only"-J 12% lower, whilst that of the unprotected steel was "-J 80%
lower, than the fatigue strength of unplated specimens in air. The
cadmium coatings also gave good protection, though they were not so
effective as zinc deposits, the corrosion-fatigue strength being"-J 20%
lower than the fatigue strength in air of the un plated as-drawn speci-
mens. (The authors40 suspected that this might have been due to
inferior adhesion of the cadmium deposits.) Phillips41 confirmed the
beneficial effect of cadmium plating, as shown in Table XIV.
In these tests the fatigue limit (in air) of ground or polished specimens
was reduced 12-15% after cadmium plating, this loss being eliminated
by shot-blasting before plating. The corrosion-fatigue strength (for
26 ' __
24
22
20
Z 18
§ 16
;;;- 14
z
g 12
:i
~ 10
t;;
o
8
~Z
c(
~
~
3'5 AS DRAWN NORMALIZED

106' 107 106 107
2X107. 2XI01
ENDURANCE, CYCLES
[Courtesy Iron aml Steel Institute

FIG. 19.-Effect of zinc or cadmium plating on the corrosion-fatigue strength of
steel. (Sopwith and Gough.40)
TABLE XIV.-Effect of Cadmium Plating on Fatigue Strength of Steel in

Air and in 3% Salt Spray (Phillips41)
Composition of steel: C 0·3, Ni 3·18, Cr 0'80, Mo 0·20%
Endurance
Fatigue Limit in
Surface Protective Coating Change. 3% Salt Change.
Condition Limit in Spray
Air. % %
(25 x 10'
tons/in2 cycles).
tons/in2
-.
Ground None 28·5-29 - - -
"
Effectively none* - - 6·5 -80
Polished None 31 - - -
Shot-blasted
--
None 27·5 - - -
Ground Cd-plated
0·0005 in. 24-24·5 -16 20·5 -28
Polished 27·5 -11 14·5-15 -50
Shot· blasted " " 30·5 +ll 23 -16
" "
* The specimens were plated over only a part of the area and fractured at the
unplated zone.
25 X 106 cycles) of the ground (or shot-blasted) and cadmium-plated
steel was r-o..I 50% greater than that of polished and cadmium-plated
steel, and more than three times that of the unplated material.
These tests emphasize, as do similar tests in other investigations, the
importance of the condition of the surface layers of the steel before
plating.
Forsman and Lundin 29 carried out a comprehensive series of corrosion-
fatigue tests (reverse and rotating bending), using eight different steels,
five different protective coatings, and three environments (air, tap-
water, and 3% salt water).
The results are shown in Table XI, reproduced unchanged from the
original paper. Both the table and the text are ambiguous, but it
appears that the tin coating was applied by hot dipping, and the nickel
and chromium coatings were electrodeposited.
The fatigue limit of unprotected specimens was greatly reduced by
tests in tap-water. Zinc or cadmium coatings afforded good protection
and the same applies, in part, to nickel and chromium, except for steels
of high strength. - Tin coating, on the other hand, gave less protection.
The electrolytic zinc coating proved to have the highest protective value
in tap-water.
The relative performance of various coatings in 3% salt spray is
illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 20, based on Forsman and Lundin's
results. Under these conditions, zinc alone gave fairly satisfactory
protection. In contrast to the results obtained by these authors with
tap-water and those of tests by Sopwith and Gough 40and by Phillips,41
cadmium was not very effective in resisting failure by corrosion fatigue
in a salt-water environment.
Allsop60 also showed (Fig. 21) that zinc deposits afforded consider-
able protection against corrosion-fatigue failure in sea-water. He also
confirmed that nickel deposits, even with a lead undercoat, appeared
ineffective as a means of protecting spring. steel against failure from
corrosion fatigue.
VIII.-MECHANISM OF FAILURE
A full evaluation of the mechanism of fatigue failure of electroplated

metals would require a knowledge of the fatigue limits under various
conditions of mean stress of: (i) the substrate, (ii) the coating, and (iii)
the plated metal. Data on the effect of electrodeposits on the fatigue
strength of metals are based largely on rotating-bend tests at zero mean
stress. Modified Goodman (or Gerber) diagrams for the fatigue strength
of steels are available and conform to a basic shape, but such diagrams
are not generally available for the electrodeposited metals themselves or
K 637 STEEL St 37 STEEL.
2
x
~
g
~
..:
i:
:;
w
:>
l:)
i=
~ 30
AIR
20
3 fi N.el
10
FIG. 20.-Effect of various metallic coatings on the fatigue limit of steel in (i) air
and (ii) 3% NaCl. (Based on data published by Forsman and Lundin,29 Table XI.)
70
""",
~ "".
'...•.......•.•.• ,...
-
~60
~ 50
",.
"
' .
'--,
..•.•...•
'... Zn (A)
l-
v;
:n 40
...<:---._- ---BARE-STEEL -(A) -
'-'------------------
'"Iii Zn (q
(; 30 --------- •• -- Ni (A)
w Zn+Pb (C) .
C)
~ 20
Of
~ 10
NI (C)
o
4
10 lOS 106 107
REVERSALS TO FAILURE
[Courte81/ "Coil Spring Journal"
FrO. 2I.-Effect of various electrodeposited coatings on the fatigue strength of steel
in air (A) or in "synthetic sea-water" (C). (Allsop.GO)
16-M.R. xvrn
218 Hammond and Williams.: The Effect of
for plated metals. Nevertheless it is possible to explain many of the
observed facts on the basis of knowledge already available.
In considering the effect of electroplated coatings on the fatigue
strength of steel (in air), it is convenient to classify the coatings accord-
ing to the strength of the coating metal.
1. Strong Coatings (e.g. Nickel and Chromium)

The intrinsic strength of electrodeposited nickel of the type usually
employed for engineering applications has been shown by Brenner et
al.37 to be approximately 13i tons/in2 (in unidirectional bending), whilst

the present authors have deduced a value of approximately 22 tons/in2
for electrodeposited chromium from the normal plating solution.
These values are low in comparison with the fatigue strengths of most
constructional steels. When nickel or chromium coatings are applied
to steels with a still lower fatigue strength, on cyclic stressing failure
will arise from a fatigue crack initiating in the steel.
In practice, this situation is rarely if ever met with and these coatings
are commonly applied to steels of considerably higher fatigue strength.
Normally, therefore, the first phase is the development of fatigue cracks
in the coating. The presence of tensile internal stress in the electro-
deposit will diminish, by a corresponding amount, the applied stress
necessary to produce a fatigue crack.
When a crack is produced in the coating, the internal stress will be
relieved locally, but the crack will act as a notch concentrating the
applied stress on the surface of the substrate at its root. From the
work of Frost and Phillips 61 on unplated steel, it seems likely that the
value of the strength-reduction factor KI of such a crack will be from
2 to 3. On steels free from surface compressive stresses, the crack will
propagate into the steel when the stress concentration at the root of
the crack reaches the fatigue limit of the steel, leading to fatigue failure.
When the steel contains residual compressive stress, as for example
stresses induced by shot-peening or rolling, the compressively stressed
layer will neutralize the tensile-stress concentration at the root of the
notch, so that the steel will sustain a higher applied stress without
fracture. Failure will occur when the resultant of the applied tensile
stress concentrated at the root of the crack and the induced compressive
stress exceeds the fatigue limit of the steel.
This sequence of events is illustrated in Fig. 22, reproduced from a
recent paper by the present authors3 which shows, as a series of hypo-
thetical stress diagrams, the effect of applying a progressively increasing
load to steel chromium plated, both with and without prior shot-
peening. Though the diagram relates to chromium, the same mechan-
ism will apply for nickel or for any other relatively strong coating.
CJ:-; up
W
1 = INT£~NAL TENSILE STRESS IN CHROHIUH
AI. AZ. nc.-NOHINAL APPLIED STRESS AFTER PLATING

AIR AIR
II z TOTAL STRESS ~NT£RNAL , APPLIED) JUST
CHROHIUH CHROMIUM
SUFFICIENT TO CRACK CHROMI~
=
STEEL "-
INT£RNAL
STEEL
S. RESULTANTS OF APPLIED STIlESS , STRESS

STRESS IN
CONCENTRATED AT ROOT or CRACK AT CHROMIUH,l
VARIOUS VALUES OF A
STRESS DISTRIBUTION BEFORE APPLYING lOAD
INTENSITY OF APPLIED STRESS. A IIESULTANT STRESS DISTRIBUTION (INTERNAL , APPLIED)
r'"""'~T'"-'"
(INCREASING DOWNVARDS) DUlliNG TENSILE PHASE OF STRESS CYCLE
~ ..
~
UNPEENED STEEL PEENED STEEL
T T ~
T
T S.
S.
Se EXCEEDS FATIGUE
STRENGTH OF STEU;
fAIUJRE OCCURS PI
APPLIED STRESS A4
COHPR£SSI'IE STIlESS
COIlVERTED TO
TENSLE aUT R£MAINS
LOWER THAN FATIGUE
STRENGTH OF STEEL
RESULTAIIT TENSILE
STRESS UCEE 0 S
FATIGUE STRENGTH
OF STEEL; FAILURE
OCCURS AT APPLIED
STRESS AS
[Courtesy American Electroplate7s' Society

FlO. 22.-Suggested modes of fatigue failure of chromium-plated steel.
(Williams and Hammond.3)
In the same paper some evidence is presented to support the notch
theory first postulated by Barklie and Davies.14 Thus:
(i) The shape of the Gerber diagram (Fig. 14) obtained by push-pull
tests on chromium-plated steel conforms broadly to the form of the
published diagrams for notched (unplated) specimens. For example,
the curve for plated specimens shows a marked flattening above 10
tons/in2 in the tensile mean stress range, while the steep rise below this
stress level persists throughout the compressive mean stress range until
the yield point (Y) is reached.
This agrees with the results of J. O. Smith,62 who published a diagram
illustrating fatigue tests on fourteen ductile metals in the notched condi-

tion which clearly shows the rising trend of the curve with increasing
compressive mean stress. Further supporting evidence is provided by
the diagrams published by Forrest63 and Moore et al.64
Thus, compressive mean stresses have only a small effect on the
fatigue strength of notch-free (unplated) specimens, but have a con-
siderable effect on that of notched (plated) specimens.
(ii) Further indirect evidence for the validity of the notch theory
has been provided by the authors' calculations, based on fatigue tests
of chromium-plated steel, of the strength-reduction factor (XJ = 1·8)
which is in fair agreement with published values for fatigue cracks in
unplated metals.
2. Weak Coatings (e.g. Cadmium, Zinc, Tin, and Lead)

Although fatigue cracks will presumably develop in such coatings at
low levels of alternating applied stress, the ready plastic deformation of
these soft materials will prevent any effective stress concentration at
the root of the cracks. From mechanical considerations, therefore,
these weak coatings would not be expected to have any adverse effect on
the fatigue strength of steel, and this prediction is largely borne out in
practice. However, relatively small reductions in fatigue strength,
attributable to cadmium plating, have been observed, and these may be
due either to the removal of residually stressed steel during pickling or
to local hydrogen embrittlement of the steel.
3. The Effect of Adsorbed Hydrogen on Fatigue Strength

Though the effects are in some respects similar, loss of fatigue strength
or the reduction in ductility and sustained-loading strength arising from
hydrogen embrittlement (either of which may result from pickling and
plating processes), are separate and distinct problems. However, under
certain conditions they may be related.
Thus, although adsorbed hydrogen does not affect the unnotched
fatigue strength of bare steel, it could conceivably reduce the fatigue
strength of plated components, particularly in the case of strong steels.
For example, if sufficient hydrogen had been adsorbed into the steel to
embrittle it, plastic deformation of the steel at the root of a fatigue
crack in the coating could not occur. The local stress concentration
could then attain its full value, promoting the formation and propaga-
tion of a crack in the steel.
IX.-CoNCLUSION
It appears that the fundamental limitation of the coatings used for

engineering applications, viz. nickel and chromium, is their relatively
low intrinsic fatigue strength relative to the high-strength steels to
which they are frequently applied (aggravated by tensile internal stress).
A need exists therefore for investigating the possibilities of electro-
depositing stronger coatings. In the case of nickel, this is clearly
feasible by the use of organic addition agents in the plating bath,
which could have the added advantage of imparting compressive in-
ternal stress to the electrodeposit. The prospects of applying a similar
remedy for chromium deposits are far less promising, however. The
harmful effects of chromium plating can be alleviated at the cost of some
reduction in hardness of the coating by high-temperature baking
(~450°C, 840°F) for such steels as will permit heat-treatment at this
temperature ·without loss of temper.
When the elimination of loss in fatigue strength is of paramount
importance, this may be achieved for all coating metals by inducing a
sufficiently high intensity of internal compressive stress in the basis
metal, e.g. by shot-peening or rolling before plating. When necessary,
as for example in the case of closely fitting or running parts, the smooth-
ness of the peened component may be restored by cautious grinding
before plating. Moreover, components treated in this way may be
baked at a low temperature after plating to relieve hydrogen em-
brittlement without detriment to the fatigue strength. Relatively
strong and ductile coatings, e.g. nickel, can be peened or rolled after
plating with similar advantage.
Finally, most fatigue tests have been carried out in air. The results
obtained are probably indicative of the true performance of thick non-
porous coatings or of thin coatings operating under favourable corrosion
conditions. However, while the performance of such coatings under
severe corrosion conditions may be very much reduced, they will
frequently provide a marked improvement in corrosion fatigue
as compared with that of the unprotected steel under the same
conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Acknowledgement is made to the Controller of H.M. Stationery

Office for permission to publish this review.
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85.
2. C. Williams and R. A. F. Hammond, ibid., 1957,34,317.
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4. A. T. Steer, J. K. Wilson, and O. Wright, Aircraft Prodn., 1953,15,242.

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Metallurgical Reviews

ISSN: 0076-6690 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yimr17

THE EFFECT OF ELECTROPLATING ON FATIGUE

R. A. F. Hammond & C. Williams

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/mtlr.1960.5.1.165

Published online: 19 Jul 2013.

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THE EFFECT OF ELECTROPLATING ON

resistance of the metals used in the construction of motor cars, bicycles,

for heavy-duty corrosion or combined wear- and corrosion-resistance,

Almost invariably (and understandably) investigators have employed

amounts of compressive internal stress extending for considerable depths

Electrodeposited chromium is extremely hard and, under norma

Under these conditions the hardness of the deposit is approximately

1. Effect of Thickness of Deposit

the percentage change in fatigue strength resulting from chromium

steel Substrate Chromium Deposit Fatigue Loss in Ref.

1·6% 54,6 Unplated - 29·2 - Wiegand

Cr-Ni 65·4 Unplated - 33 -

Steel Substrate Chromium Deposit Fatigue Loss in Ref.

S.A.E. 83 Unplated - 36·4 - Sinnott!O

CRUOt 0·001 33·6 8

[Courtesy Institute of Metal Finis/lirtg

2. Effect of Ourrent Density

TABLE H.-Effect of Ourrent Density on the Percentage Loss in Fatigue

Plating Conditions Loss in Fatigue Strength, %

C.D.• Temp .• ·C Standard Bath Pty. (CR.llO) Bath

230 50 14·5 3·5

The diminished loss in fatigue strength with the proprietary solution

3. Effect of Internal Stress

[Courtesy Institute of Metal Finishing

TABLE IlL-Variation of Internal Stress with Thickness in Ohromium

Solution: erO, 250. H2SO. 2'5 gil.

Operating Conditions: Temp. 50 ± 1°C; c.d. 200 ampjft2•

Thickness, in. 0·0001 0·0003 0·0005 0·001 0·006

Tensile stress, 63 33 7·5 5 5

that the reduction in the endurance limit of steel by chromium plating

the same times as the corresponding fatigue test-pieces. En 25 steel of

[Courtesy Institute of Metal Finishing

To sum up, the results of these investigations provide ample confirma-

[Courtesy Institute of Metal Finishing

4. Effect of Post-Plating Heat-Treatment (Baking)

Baking in the low-temperature range (150-300°0) did not lower the

100 200 300 400 500 600

[Courtesy Institute of Metal Finishing

It will be noted that with increase in baking temperature the residual

(824OF), and the data suggest that 1 h at temperature is adequate.

TABLE IV.-Effect of Heat-Treatment for 2-6 h on the Hardness of

Annealing Temp., ·C Hardness. DPN*

Nil (as-deposited) 800-900

It would appear therefore that baking at 440°0 (824°F) will reduce

5. Effect of Strength of Steel Substrate

o 100 200 300 400 SOO

[Courtesy Institute of Metal Finishing

This point was made the subject of a special investigation by the