Research for electrodeposited superhydrophobic Ni-W-WS2 coating and its anticorrosion and wear resistance

Abstract

In this work, with the help of pulsed electrodeposition technology, Ni-W/WS2 superhydrophobic composite coatings on carbon steel surfaces were fabricated. Moreover, the effects of different WS2 concentrations on the surface morphology, microhardness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance of Ni-W coatings were also investigated. The results show that the addition of different concentrations of WS2 has a great influence on the microscale and submicron-sized roughness layered surface structure of the superhydrophobic coating surface. Furthermore, the embedding of WS2 also maximizes the wear and corrosion resistance of the Ni-W coating. This is reflected by the fact that the Ni-W/WS2 (0.3 g/L) composite coating possesses the narrowest wear section and the lowest average coefficient of friction (COF=0.14). In 3.5 wt%NaCl solution, the Ni-W/WS2 (0.3 g/L) composite coating has the highest corrosion potential (Ecorr=−0.309 V) and the lowest corrosion current density (icorr=1.415 μA·cm−2), which show the best corrosion resistance. The related enhancement mechanisms originate from the physical barrier effect of 2D nanosheets and the formation of tribo-transfer films.