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Alloy galvanizing with nickel content is a high corrosion and heat resistant coating that meets the high demands of the automotive industry. The plating is galvanic, and the deposited alloy coating is protected by final treatments (passivation and sealing). These treatments cause non-conductivity of the surface coating of the material. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with the EDX microanalyzer can determine both the coating thickness and its chemical composition, as well as the composition of the base material and another structural component, for example, inclusions. Its drawback is the missing or inaccurate detection of carbon and other light elements. Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (GDOES) measures the thickness and composition of the zinc coating correctly, accurately and with good repeatability. This paper aims to verify the possibilities of the RF-GDOES for analysis of alloy coatings with non-conductive surface treatment. By comparing the results of RF-GDOES analysis and EDX microanalysis carried out using SEM, it was found that both methods provide the same values of the chemical composition of the base material and the alloy coatings, as well as the thickness of the alloy coatings.
Keywords: GDOES, profile analysis, zinc-nickel coating, SEM, EDX© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.