Parametric optimisation of microhardness on heat-treated electroless Ni-YSZ cermet coating

Abstract

The paper discusses the parametric optimisation of the electroless Ni-YSZ cermet coating microhardness upon heat treatment. Heat treatment is a process to increase the mechanical properties of the electroless nickel coating and it can be enhanced by manipulating its parameters. Parametric optimisation is conducted by the design of experiment full factorial 3x3 with 27 runs. Treating temperature, treating time and ceramic particle size parameters at 3-level are evaluated using statistical tool ANOVA in Minitab20. Ni-YSZ cermet coating is deposited onto a high-speed steel substrate using the electroless nickel co-deposition method. The temperature and time were varied in a range of 300-400oC and 0-2 hours respectively. The microhardness measurements were carried out using a Vickers microhardness tester (Shimadzu) according to ISO 6507-4. The surface characterisation was analysed using Cambridge Stereoscan 90 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDXA). The optimum condition in obtaining high microhardness on Ni-YSZ cermet coating is evaluated by statistical tool ANOVA in Minitab20 software. It is found that the most significant parameter for high microhardness is at the treating temperature of 400oC followed by treating time at 2 hours using nano-sized YSZ particles. The ceramic particle size is found not a significant parameter in obtaining a high microhardness, however it has effect on interaction between treating temperature and treating time. The paper only limits to the optimisation condition of microhardness on Ni-YSZ cermet coating hardness property by varying heat treatment parameters. The optimisation condition obtained might only applicable to the electroless Ni-YSZ cermet coating with similar electroless nickel solution and treatments. The value of this work is the heat treatment parametric optimisation to obtain high microhardness on electroless Ni-YSZ cermet coating by using the design of experiment 3-level full factorial.