The morphology and texture formation in zinc and zinc-cobalt coatings, electrodeposited onto low carbon steel substrate in an acidic sulfate bath, was studied. The predominant texture component of zinc coating at low current density was pyramidal ͕11.5͖ and ͕11.6͖ nonfiber, while, for zinc-cobalt deposition, a nonfiber ͕11.0͖ prism was found as the predominant texture component. Hydrogen adsorption, during the zinc electrodeposition process, inhibited lateral bunching growth and produced a low-angle pyramidal texture component, which developed ridge morphology. Adsorption of cobalt or cobalt-containing species was the reason for promoting a "field-oriented texture"-type growth in zinc-cobalt deposition, which resulted in a coating morphology, consisting of numerous fibers grown almost normal to the substrate surface. At higher overpotentials, the adsorption was hindered. This led to the progression of lateral growth and the development of a sharp ͑00.2͒ fiber texture component in zinc and zinc-cobalt electrodeposits.Electrodeposited zinc coatings have attracted increased attention because of the flexibility in their properties. By sacrificing itself, zinc offers protection to steel. Studies to improve the corrosion resistance of the zinc coatings are desirable because they are not so resistant to corrosion in marine atmospheres. 1 Under some circumstances, zinc becomes passivated and the protective property is hindered. 2 Hence, the electrodeposition of zinc, alloyed with group eight metals ͑Ni, Co, and Fe͒, has attracted considerable interest. 1,3,4 This can be attributed, mainly, to excellent corrosion resistance, paintability, and good formability. 5 These properties are controlled by chemical composition, phase composition, and the microstructure of the deposit. According to recent findings, some of the coating properties, in particular, the corrosion resistance and paintability, are influenced by the morphology and crystallographic texture of the deposit. 6,7 Various morphologies and textures can be obtained simply by applying different electrochemical conditions to the electrodeposition bath and preparing the steel substrates differently. The properties of the coating, such as corrosion resistance, paintability, and formability, are closely related to the morphology and texture of the coating. 8-14 Although numerous research works have been undertaken to study the electrochemical dependence of the texture and morphology of zinc and zinc alloy electrodeposited coatings, the development of the texture and the morphology and the reasons for their variations, using electrochemical parameters and surface preparations, are still not completely understood. In zinc electrodeposition, Park and Szpunar 13,15 found that the major texture components, developed onto the electropolished steel surface at low current densities, were high-intensity basal ͑00.2͒ and low-intensity pyramidal ͕10.X͖ planes. Similar results were reported by Vasilakopoulos et al., 16 using chemically polished steel substrate. A previous study on ...