# name
Galvanostatic electrodeposition and corrosion behaviour of goldalloy coatings used in jewellery.

# metadata.dc.description[].value
Treballs Finals de Grau de Química, Facultat de Química, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2014, Tutor: Carlos M. Müller Jevenois

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
Au-Cu-Cd alloys have been widely used in jewellery as decorative plating. Nowadays, Au-
Cu-In alloys have progressively replaced the first mentioned one due to the high toxicity
cadmium presents. In spite of this, there is no knowledge on Au-Cu-Cd in terms of corrosion
behaviour, thus information to establish a comparative basis between both alloys is required.
The aim of this study is to produce Au-Cu-Cd alloy coating samples by galvanostatic
electrodeposition (a purchased alkaline cyanide bath was used for such a purpose) on metal
substrates and evaluate their corrosion behaviour via electrochemical measurements. The
influence of electrodeposition experimental parameters (current density, rotation speed of
working electrode, substrate geometry) in terms of corrosion behaviour and alloy composition is
reported as well. It was found out that low negative current densities induce the reduction of
larger gold quantity on the substrate, therefore enhancing corrosion resistance. By its part,
rotation speed does not seem to affect corrosion behaviour nor the alloy composition. The
adaptation of large-scale conditions to lab-scale has been proved to have some limitations:
while at industry area is not a determining parameter to obtain 75% Au alloys, only low
substrate areas provide alloy coatings with such gold purity approximately under our laboratory conditions.

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Galvanostatic electrodeposition and corrosion behaviour of goldalloy coatings used in jewellery.