Surface roughening in pulse current and pulse reverse current electroforming of nickel

Electrodeposition of metals to the thickness required for electroforming inevitably results in roughening of the deposited surface, Although in some cases, post machining can be adopted to improve the texture of deposited surfaces, it is not feasible for micro-electroformed components because of their small size. Good surface finishing is therefore required in micro-electroforming. In this paper, an experimental and theoretical investigation on the effect of pulse current and pulse reverse current on electroforming nickel has been carried out. At the same average current density better surface finishing was obtained experimentally using pulse reverse current, and the theoretical trends are consistent with the experimental findings.