Evaluation of effect of grain size on mechanical and tribological properties of pulse electrodeposited nanocrystalline nickel using nanoindentation techniques

Abstract

Pulse electrodeposition of nanocrystalline nickel has been carried out on AA 6061 substrate from a modified Watt’s bath using saccharin as a grain refining additive. By varying the concentration of saccharin and other operating parameters, nanocrystalline nickel electrodeposits of varying average grain sizes (from 115 down to 17 nm) have been obtained. Nanoindentation was employed for studying the effect of average grain size on the mechanical and tribological properties of the electrodeposits, with emphasis on hardness, elastic modulus, wear resistance and coefficient of friction. The study confirms that the hardness of nanocrystalline nickel electrodeposits increases as the average grain size decreases and a value as high as 7·2 GPa is obtained for a coating having an average grain size of 17 nm. No inverse Hall–Petch relationship is observed for the entire range of grain sizes studied. The elastic modulus of the electrodeposits remained almost constant (between 150 and 160 GPa), irrespective of the average grain size and a coefficient of friction value of 0·25 has been obtained for a deposit having an average grain size of 17 nm.