Preparation and Soft-Magnetic Properties of Fe-Co-Ni-Cr Plated Films Having a Single Phase Structure and High Saturation Magnetization

The authors investigated the method of preparation and soft magnetic properties of electrodeposited Fe-Co-Ni-Cr alloy film with high saturation magnetization and a single-phase structure. It was found that Fe-Co-Ni-Cr alloy film with a single-phase fcc structure can be electrodeposited at the cathode in a solution composed of Fe
²⁺
, Co
²⁺
, Ni
²⁺
and Cr
³⁺
ions and with SO
4
^2-
as the count anion, by plating at current densities of more than 30 mA/cm
²
. Film consisting of Fe
₄₄
Co
₁₇
Ni
₃₆
Cr
₃
alloy, prepared by the plating method described in this paper, has soft magnetic properties (μ
_iHA
≫ 1500, H
_cHA
≪ 0.5 Oe, λ
_s
= 6x10
^-6
, B
_s
= 16,800 G) qualifying it for use in HDD thin film magnetic head cores.