Study on mechanical properties of anodised film containing nano-diamond particles

Anodic-composite films containing nano-diamond particles (ND) were prepared on 7000 aluminium alloy using an anodising method. The micro-structures of the film were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and minitab software (version 16). The results indicate that the micro-hardness and wear resistance of the films were improved using the nano-additive. Thus, the wear loss of the composite (the film anodised in the bath containing of sulphric acid, oxalic acid and 85?g?L^?1 ND) evaluated by dry sliding friction test for 50?000 cycles at room temperature, was 0.4?mg compared to 3?mg in the absence of ND, a 750% improvement. The friction of ND composite anodic films is significantly less than the samples without the added particles. Moreover, the micro-hardness of the composite film reached a maximum value of 770?VHN. The results also show that the mechanical properties of the composite films are mainly dependent on the structure of the oxide films.