Investigation on electroless Cu-P-micro/nanoSiC composite coatings

Abstract

Copper-phosphorus (Cu-P) coatings composited with superfine silicon carbide (SiC) particles were prepared by electroless plating. The composition, morphology, structure and roughness of the composite coatings, with micro- and nanosize SiC particles were studied respectively by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was shown that SiC particles are codeposited homogeneously and Cu-P-SiC composite coatings have crystalline structure. Mechanical properties of coatings were studied by Vickers hardness and wear testers. Cu-P/nano-SiC composite coating showed higher microhardness and better antiwear performance than microsize SiC composite coatings. Corrosion resistance of the electroless Cu-P composite coatings on carbon steel was studied in 3·5 wt-% NaCl and 1M HCl solutions by potentiodynamic polarisation technique. The study revealed that the corrosion resistance increases with incorporation of nano SiC particles in the Cu-P