Development and Characterization of Electroless Ni-P Composite Coatings With Tribaloy Additions

Abstract

Electroless Nickel (Ni-P) coatings are widely employed as protective coatings due to their ease of application and unique properties. However, they are limited by their brittleness. Thus, Tribaloy (CoMoCrSi) alloy is used in this study to develop a novel Ni-P composite coating with enhanced hardness and toughness. The objective of this research is to develop and characterize the Ni-P-Tribaloy composite coating, and to evaluate the effect of the addition of Tribaloy on the wear performance. Ni-P-Tribaloy coatings were successfully deposited on low carbon steel substrates. Following coating characterization, the 15.7 vol.% Tribaloy composite coating was subjected to Hertzian-type indentation, multiple-pass scratch, and low-stress abrasion tests to examine the coating’s wear behaviour under different conditions. The addition of Tribaloy was found to improve the hardness, fracture toughness, and ductility of the Ni-P coating. However, the Ni-P-Tribaloy coating exhibited high wear rates mainly due to the large Tribaloy particle size used.