Repair of soft magnetic properties of wasted silicon steel and Co(7)Fe(3) alloy deposition mechanism

In order to repair the soft magnetic properties of wasted silicon steel, a theoretical process of co-depositing Co–Fe soft magnetic alloy on the surface of wasted silicon steel is proposed. The results show that the co-deposited Co–Fe alloy coatings can serve to repair the soft magnetic properties of wasted silicon as detected by the vibrating sample magnetometer, and the alloy coatings with Co(7)Fe(3) as the main phase structure can provide surface protection for silicon steel. Subsequently, the mechanism of co-deposited Co–Fe alloys was investigated, and it was concluded that Co(2+) and Fe(2+) undergo a one-step two-electron co-deposition reaction, as studied using cyclic voltammetry. The chronoamperometric analysis and its fitting results indicated that the deposition of Co(2+) and Fe(2+) was a diffusion-controlled transient nucleation process, and the AC impedance indicated that higher voltages were favorable for the deposition of Co–Fe alloys but were accompanied by hydrogen precipitation reactions.