Preparation and properties of Ni/nano-Al 2O 3 composite coatings by automatic brush plating

Abstract

Ni/nano-Al 2O 3 composite coating was fabricated by automatic brush-plating technique and manually plated Ni/nano-Al 2O 3 composite coating was also prepared as a comparison. The surface morphology, microstructure, microhardness and wear resistance performance of the coatings were investigated. The results showed that the automatically plated Ni/nano-Al 2O 3 composite coating possessed smoother, finer, denser microstructure and more uniform performance as compared to the manually plated Ni/nano-Al 2O 3 composite coating. The former exhibited higher microhardness and better wear resistance under lubricant condition compared with that of the latter. The results presented herein lay the groundwork for future systematical studies in producing nanocomposite coating by brush-plating technique in order to optimize mechanical and tribological properties.