Nano SiC Reinforced Copper Nanocomposite by a Simple Electrodeposition Method

Abstract

The Cu and Cu-SiCnanocomposite coatings were prepared by a simple electrodeposition technique from acidic copper sulphate electrolyte using SiC nanoparticles with an average particles size of 50 nm under optimized bath composition and preparation conditions for possible electrical contact material applications such as electrical switch and wiring boards where higher electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity is required. The scope of the present study is to enhance the strength, mechanical, corrosion and wear resistance properties of Cu-SiCnanocomposite compared to pure Cu coatings. The as prepared Cu and Cu-SiCnanocomposites were characterized for structural, mechanical and corrosion resistance properties by EDX, XRD, FESEM, Vickers microhardness tester and AC-impedance and Tafel polarization techniques. The elemental composition (wt% of Cu and SiC nanoparticles) of Cu-SiCnanocomposites was analyzed by EDX coupled with FESEM analysis confirms the presence of nanoSiC in the copper matrix and they were 89wt% of Cu and 11 wt% of SiC nanoparticles respectively. The surface morphology of Cu and Cu-SiCnanocomposites was studied by FESEM analysis shows that SiC nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed in the surface of the copper matrix compared to pure copper. The crystallite structure and grain size of the Cu and Cu-SiCnanocomposite electrodeposits was measured by XRD analysis. From the XRD results, the grain size calculated using Debye-Scherrer’s formula was ~35 nm for pure Cu and ~33 nm Cu-SiCnanocomposite. The crystallite structure of Cu and Cu-SiCnanocomposites was fcc (face centered cubic) and the preferred orientation of the plane was (220). The microhardness of Cu-SiCnanocomposite coating increased with increasing SiC nanoparticles concentration in the bath compared to pure Cu coating. The corrosion resistance measurements were performed for the pure Cu and Cu-SiCnanocomposite coatings by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Tafel polarization techniques. It shows that, Cu-SiCnanocomposites has high corrosion resistance than pure Cu in 3.5wt% NaCl solution.