Abstract
Electroless Ni-P-Al2O3 composite coatings have found wide range of applications due to their high hardness and wear resistance. The present study triesto investigate the influence of coating process parameters on the microhardness of electroless Ni-P-Al2O3 composite coating with the help ofTaguchi analysis. Four parameters, namely, concentration of nickel sulphateas a nickel source, concentration of sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent, concentration of Al2O3 particles as concentration of second phase particles, and annealing temperature, are considered and fitted into an L27 orthogonal array to find out the optimized condition for improvedhardness of the coating. The optimized condition is found to yield about 20.47% improvement in hardness of the coating comparedto the initial condition. The significance of the process parameters and their interactions on the hardness of electroless Ni-P-Al2O3 composite coating isstudied with the help of analysis of variance, which revealed that annealing temperature and concentration of second phase particles (Al2O3 particles) have significant influence on the hardness characteristics of electroless Ni-P-Al2O3 composite coating. The compositional, microstructural, andphase structure analyses are conducted with the help of energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, scanning electron microscope, and X-raydiffraction analyzer, respectively.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.