Wear behavior of alkaline pulsed electrodeposited nickel composite coatings reinforced by ZnO nanoparticles

Nickel-ZnO nanocomposite coatings were fabricated by pulse electrodeposition in an alkaline bath. The effect of different deposition parameters such as current density, duty cycle, and pulse frequency as well as the impact of addition of 10 g/l ZnO nanoparticles into the nickel matrix on the friction behavior of fabricated coatings were investigated. X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, microhardness test, and pin-on-disk wear test were utilized to assess the coatings characteristics, mechanical behavior, and wear resistance and a thorough comparison was performed between the pure nickel coating and its reinforced composite counterpart, with respect to their surface morphology, surface topography, and wear resistance properties. Our results indicate that by ZnO incorporation into the coating, the number of nucleation sites for nickel crystals increases, the crystal growth is retarded, and a nanocomposite coating with smaller grains can be fabricated. The incorporation of ZnO led to significantly increase in microhardness, changed the wear mechanism from adhesion to abrasion, and improved the wear rate. By increasing the electrodeposition current density (from 4 to 10 A/dm2), the wear rate was noticeably decreased while the friction coefficient was significantly enhanced. As the electrodeposition duty cycle and pulse frequency were increased to 75% and 100 Hz, respectively, wear rate of the composite coating increased noticeably as a consequence of the changes in the coating properties. The optimum electrodeposition condition for Ni–ZnO nanocomposite coatings was achieved at 10 A/dm2, γ = 50% and f = 10 Hz resulting in a coating with the lowest wear rate (3.2539 × 10−4 mm3/Nm), minimum weight loss (0.0014 gr), highest microhardness (290 Hv), maximum ZnO incorporation rate (4.04 vol% ZnO), and highest friction coefficient (0.972) among all investigated coatings. It was concluded that increasing current density improved the wear resistance while the enhancement of duty cycle and pulse frequency led to worsen it. [Display omitted] •The wear behavior of Ni and Ni–ZnO nanocomposites fabricated using alkaline pulsed electrodeposition was studied.•All Ni–ZnO nanocomposites exhibited nodular and rougher surface.•Microhardness and wear rate were significantly improved after nanoparticle incorporation.•ZnO incorporation up to 2.89 vol% altered the wear mechanism from adhesion, plastic deformation and ploughing to abrasion.•Increas