Improving surface finish and wear resistance of electroless nickel plating using flexible abrasive tool

Abstract

Electroless nickel plating has a variety of useful properties, including high hardness, high stability, and better corrosion and wear resistance when compared with the stainless steel substrate used in the present work, which make it useful in different fields such as aerospace, optics, defence, etc. However, these applications require very high level of surface finish. This work presents the finishing of electroless nickel plating by flexible abrasive tools fabricated by solvent dissolution method. The flexibility of the tool allows for better adaptability to the workpiece surface, thus protecting the surface from excessive abrasion from abrasive particles. The topographical and morphological studies of the as-plated surface are carried out and compared with the finished surface. Surface roughness, material removal rate and forces are measured to understand the material removal mechanism. Tool loading is also analysed to understand the tool performance. Final finishing is carried out using the best set of input parameters, with or without tool conditioning. A final surface roughness of 9 nm is achieved in 24 min when finishing is carried out using tool conditioning. The wear test and hardness testing of the as-plated and final finished surfaces is carried out to understand the performance of the component. The final finished surface has the lowest coefficient of friction and the maximum wear resistance.