Abstract
This study carried out a novel duplex surface treatment on aluminum alloy base to explore the potential improvement of wear and corrosion resistance. Regular arrayed dimple surface texture (DST) and groove surface texture (GST) were fabricated by using laser processing on 6065 aluminum alloy matrix (6065Al). Electrochemical deposition of Ni and Graphene/Ni coatings on textured surface was then performed in electrolytes with concentrations of 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg graphene. Surface morphology such as diameter of dimple and width of groove measured by C-PSCN stereo microscope presents addition of graphene helps to refine and homogenize the coating. Corrosion resistant properties of the duplex surface treatment were examined by electrochemical corrosion tests and wear resistant properties were tested by UMT-Tribo Lab friction and wear tester in a dry sliding condition at room temperature. Electrochemical corrosion tests results show that the corrosion resistance of samples is related to the specific surface texture and the dimple texture can improve the electrical corrosion parameters, such as the electrode potential, greatly. Friction and wear tests show that the textured Gr/Ni electroplating coating with the 1.5 mg graphene content has best wear properties under vertical friction and each index, such as the coefficient of friction and wear trace width, are superior to other conditions of samples.
Highlights
Aluminum alloy has been considered a good choice as a material in the aviation, aerospace, automotive, marine and chemical industries, due to its excellent specific strength and plasticity, high electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and remarkable corrosion resistance [1]
Difficulty still arises with the electroplating process is the formation of natural oxide film on the surface of the aluminum alloy, hindering the direct reduction of metal ions on the surface of the aluminum alloy to obtain a plating layer with ideal adhesion situation [3]
The corrosion current density of groove surface texture (GST)/CE (Ni) is less than that of dimple surface texture (DST)/CE (Ni+1.5Gr) because the two values are too close, so the corrosion resistance of dimple textured composite coatings is more explained by the comparison of corrosion potential
Summary
Aluminum alloy has been considered a good choice as a material in the aviation, aerospace, automotive, marine and chemical industries, due to its excellent specific strength and plasticity, high electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and remarkable corrosion resistance [1]. Recent research have found that the addition of materials such as SiC, CNT-carbon nanotubes, nano-diamond and MoS2 -nanosheet to the composite plating solution results in a certain improvement in corrosion resistance and friction resistance. All this research has shown graphene/nickel composite electroplating has great significance in increasing the service life of aluminum alloys due to corrosion and friction and wear. Inspired by bionic studies and taking the advantages of surface texturing and surface modification, in the present work, the surface texturing/composite electroplating (ST/CE) duplex treatments were applied on 6065Al. Regular arrayed dimple surface texture (DST) and groove surface texture (GST) were adopted and fabricated by using laser processing on 6065Al matrix respectively and electrochemical deposition of Ni and. The influences of different texture and content of graphene on friction behavior and corrosion resistance were investigated by micrographs, electrochemical experiments and friction and wear experiments
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