Electroless Synthesis of Ni-P-ZrO<sub>2</sub> Nanocomposite to Analyse Corrosion

Abstract

Electroless Synthesis of Nicle phosphate zirconium dioxide (EL NiP/-ZrO2) has been carried out with ZrO2 nanocomposite (50 to 160 nm and concentration 4 gpl) and randomly dispersed into an alkaline Ni-P electroless bath (pH 8.0). The deposited thickness of NiP/-ZrO2 nanocoatings resting on mild steels (MS) substrate (AISI 1040 grade) is carried out to evaluate the surface morphology and elemental composition. The SEM, EDAX and XRD methods elucidated clear difference between Ni-P along with NiP/-ZrO2 nanocomposite coatings. Moreover NiP/-ZrO2 nanocoatings contain uniform burly of ZrO2 nanoparticles like whitish globules. Further the as-coated Ni-P/-ZrO2 nanocoatings revealed mostly amorphous structures, while in heated coatings (temperatures 150, 350, and 550 °C with pure Ar) as temperature rises, the amorphous structure transformed leisurely to crystalline structure. The microhardness values in Vickers-unit of the developed nanocomposite coatings are determined and it is found that for a particular load with increase of temperature microhardness as well as corrosion resistancealso increases. Keywords: Electroless; Corrosion; Ni-P/-ZrO2; nanocoatings; Microhardness