Morphology and tribological properties of Ni/n-SiO2 composite coatings by pulse-reverse current brush-plating

Ni/n-SiO₂ composite coating was electrodeposited by brush-plating with pulse-reverse current(RC). The morphology, hardness, and tribological properties of the coating were investigated and compared with those of Ni and composite coatings electrodeposited with direct current (DC). The results indicate that Ni/n-SiO₂ composite coating electrodeposited by RC, because of RC and the nano powders, has denser coating, finer crystal grains, higher hardness (HV650.0, nearly 1.5 times higher than that of Ni coating electrodeposited by DC) and lower friction coefficient (nearly 0.62), as a result, in the wearing experiment, the Ni/n-SiO₂ composite coating electrodeposited by RC has the least worn loss. So this kind of coating has better wear resistance. And RC electro brush-plating can be used as a new technology of brush-plating in the area of wear resistance. Foundation item: Project (50235030) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project (51489020104JS9102) supported by the National Key Laboratory for Remanufacturing