Statistical Evaluation of Corrosion Characterisitcs of Bright Ni-Cr Electroplated Steel Panels Subjected to the Outdoor Exposure Test

Corrosion characteristics of a bright Ni-Cr electroplating system on steel were statistically evaluated. For three thicknesses of Ni, a set of fifteen panels was subjected to outdoor exposure tests. Variation in the corrosion characteristics was based on a probabilistic feature, and may be caused by electrochemical noise and nonequilibrium fluctuations. The time to failure for each panel was estimated from the smoothed curves of the percent area of corrosion. To sample life distribution of individual Ni thicknesses, a Weibull distribution was fitted. The failure mode of the bright Ni-Cr electroplating system was wear-out type of failure. The maximum service life, B10 life, increased logarithmically with increasing Ni thickness.