Studies on electrodeposition and characterization of the Ni–W–Fe alloys coatings

[Display omitted] •Ni–W–Fe alloy resistant to corrosion has been obtained by electrodeposition.•Optimal temperature and current density for Ni–W–Fe alloy electrodeposition has been found.•Experimental design has been used as optimization tool.•Amorphous Ni–W–Fe alloy has been obtained. Corrosion has been responsible for industrial maintenance cost as well as for industrial accidents. A key to prevent corrosion is to develop advanced materials with highly anti-corrosive properties. The electrodeposition has been one of the most important techniques for obtaining these materials. The objective of this work is to develop and optimize the parameters to obtain a new Ni–W–Fe alloy with high resistance to corrosion. A factorial design 22 with 2 center points was used to find the optimal current density and bath temperature for Ni–W–Fe electrodeposition. The influence of such variables on the cathodic current efficiency and polarization resistance were obtained. The alloys obtained with the highest current density (125mA/cm2) and the highest bath temperature (70°C) had the best anticorrosive properties, which are superior to anticorrosive properties of Ni–W–Fe available in the literature. The obtained alloys had the highest tungsten content compared with other alloys studied of about 46wt.%. The highest cathodic current efficiency was 34% for the alloy with a chemical composition of 3wt.% Fe, 29wt.% W and 68wt.% Ni.