Impact of SiC particle size upon the microstructure and characteristics of Ni-SiC nanocomposites

Abstract

In order to deposit the Ni–SiC nanocomposites on Q235A steel substrates, magnetic pulse electrodeposition was employed in this article. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), triboindenter in-situ nanomechanical testing, scanning probe microscopy (SPM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to assess the composites in terms of their compositions, microstructures, and microhardness. There were three specimens in total, with SiC particle sizes of 30, 80, and 200 nm, referred to as SN-30, SN-80, and SN-200 composites. With fine nickel grains and nanoparticles of SiC, SN-30 nanocomposites have fine, compact, and homogeneous architectures. There is a substantial impact of the size of SiC particles on the spectra of XRD for the nanocomposites. For SN-200 nanocomposite, the peaks of diffraction for SiC and Ni seemed to be high and sharp. SiC nanoparticle and Ni grain sizes in SN-30 nanocomposite were measured to be 34.4 and 381.3 nm, respectively. SN-30 and SN-200 composites have final depths of roughly 15.2 μm and 24.6 μm, accordingly. Following a subsequent investigation of the corrosion and wear characteristics of Ni-SiC nano-composites, the weight loss values of SN-30, SN-80, and SN-200 composites were calculated to be 1.01, 1.48, and 1.69 g, respectively, after corrosion testing for 24 h. During wear testing, however, just a few small pits were discovered on the SN-30 nanocomposite surface, indicating optimum wear resistance.