Microstructure and wear resistance of nickel–carbon nanotube composite coating from brush plating technique

This paper investigates the microstructure and wear resistance of nickel–carbon nanotube (CNT) composite coating deposited by brush plating technique. The Ni/CNT coating deposited with a pulse current source has less porosity, higher hardness and higher wear resistance than that with a DC source. CNTs greatly improve the coating performance. The wear mechanism is mainly the smearing of the Ni/CNTs coatings, instead of the fracture for the Ni coatings.