Wear stress mitigation and structural characteristics of highly performing zinc-based induced ZrO2/ZrN composite alloy coating on mild steel

Abstract

The challenge of residual stress as a result of wear deformation and thermal instability is the motivation behind this study. Nanosized ZrO2/ZrN particles were dispersed into zinc-rich electrolyte using dual anode electrolytic co-deposition (DAECD) route at constant time of deposition and applied current density. The hardness and wear behavior of the coatings were investigated using diamond base microhardness tester and MTR-300 abrasive test rig respectively. The structural properties of the coatings were systematically characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), atomic force microscopy, and metallurgical optical microscopy. The stability of the coatings was examined by isothermal furnace at 400 °C. From the results, it is observed that a good adhere coating with significant improvement in mechanical performance was attained. The hardness characteristic value increases from 34 HVN to 172.4 HVN for Zn-ZrO2-ZrN alloy. The plastic deformation was reduced from 0.2 g/min of the as-received sample to 0.0059 g/min for Zn-ZrO2-ZrN matrix. Hence, this establishes that the stability in the coated sample against the working substrate is attributed to the formation of coherent, uniform structural properties, and good strengthening effect from the multifaceted composite materials.