Corrosion Rate of Ni-ZrO2 Nano-coatings Forecasted by GRNN

Abstract

The Ni-ZrO2 nano-coating was prepared on the surface of a cobalt-nickel-based model alloy sample by the magnetic stirring-assisted electrodeposition. Based on the orthogonal experiment, the electrochemical free corrosion current density of the Ni-ZrO2 nano-coating was performed by GRNN to predict the corrosion rate of Ni-ZrO2 nano-coating. The surface morphology and the composition of elements of the Ni-ZrO2 nano-coating were characterized using S-3400 scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and MFP-3D Origin atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show that: (1) The performance of the Ni-ZrO2 nano-coating is better and shows a lower corrosion rate when the mass concentration of ZrO2 particles is 6 g/L, the plating bath temperature is 60 °C, and the plating current density is 5 A/dm2; (2) The factors affecting the free corrosion current density of Ni-ZrO2 coatings are as follows: ZrO2 particles mass concentration > plating bath temperature > plating current density; (3) The maximum and minimum relative errors of the four sets of non-orthogonal experiments predicted by the GRNN are 7.33% and 3.91%, respectively, which attests to the accuracy of GRNN prediction.