Fe–Ni alloy electrodeposits were applied as a localized surface treatment to carbon-steel specimens to evaluate their combined influence on corrosion resistance and fatigue-crack propagation. The deposit composition was controlled such that the Fe–Ni surface treatment provided a mild degree of cathodic protection to the underlying steel while also influencing the mechanical response near the crack tip. Crack-length versus fatigue data collected under open-air cyclic loading showed that treated specimens exhibited crack growth arrest. Scanning electron microscopy of treated specimens revealed Fe–Ni deposits along portions of the crack faces that indicated potential bridging of crack faces and the temporal aspects of crack-closure behavior during loading. The combined effects of controlled alloy composition, mild cathodic protection capability, and crack-face bridging indicate that Fe–Ni electrodeposits can meaningfully suppress fatigue-crack growth and enhance the durability of mild carbon steel. This presentation provides a unified interpretation of previously published results (Corros. Mater. Degrad., 2025; J. Mater. Eng. Perf., 2025), emphasizing how controlled Fe–Ni electrodeposited treatments contribute to corrosion and fatigue-crack-growth mitigation, and briefly discusses ongoing, unpublished work on similar Fe-Cr-Ni electrodeposited treatments for stainless steel substrates.
