Laminar iridium coating produced by pulse current electrodeposition from chloride molten salt

•Laminar Ir coatings were prepared by pulse current electrodeposition in molten salt.•Laminar Ir coating comprised a columnar nucleation layer and a laminar growth layer.•Laminar Ir coating was much smoother (Ra: 1.01μm) and denser than columnar coating.•The degree of 〈111〉 preferred orientation of laminar coating was extremely high. Due to the unique physical and chemical properties, Iridium (Ir) is one of the most promising oxidation-resistant coatings for refractory materials above 1800°C in aerospace field. However, the Ir coatings prepared by traditional methods are composed of columnar grains throughout the coating thickness. The columnar structure of the coating is considered to do harm to its oxidation resistance. The laminar Ir coating is expected to have a better high-temperature oxidation resistance than the columnar Ir coating does. The pulse current electrodeposition, with three independent parameters: average current density (Jm), duty cycle (R) and pulse frequency (f), is considered to be a promising method to fabricate layered Ir coating. In this study, laminar Ir coatings were prepared by pulse current electrodeposition in chloride molten salt. The morphology, roughness and texture of the coatings were determined by scanning electron microscope (SEM), profilometer and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The results showed that the laminar Ir coatings were composed of a nucleation layer with columnar structure and a growth layer with laminar structure. The top surfaces of the laminar Ir coatings consisted of cauliflower-like aggregates containing many fine grains, which were separated by deep grooves. The laminar Ir coating produced at the deposition condition of 20mA/cm2 (Jm), 10% (R) and 6Hz (f) was quite smooth (Ra 1.01±0.09μm) with extremely high degree of preferred orientation of 〈111〉, and its laminar structure was well developed with clear boundaries and uniform thickness of sub-layers.