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The performance of electroless (EL) Ni–B coated brass contacts under fretting conditions was evaluated. The contact resistance of EL Ni–B coated brass contact was measured as a function of fretting cycles. The surface profile and wear depth of the fretted zone were measured using laser scanning microscope. The study reveals that EL Ni–B coated contacts exhibit better performance under fretting conditions. However, at conditions which are prone for severe oxidation such as, low frequency (3 Hz) or high temperature (155°C), EL Ni–B coated contacts fail to exhibit a better stability. The quick removal of the oxide film by fretting motion, rapid oxidation of the fresh metallic particles and trapping of the oxidation products in the remaining coating, cause the contact resistance to increase to unacceptable levels at such conditions. The study concludes that EL Ni–B coating is not a suitable choice for connector contacts that could experience fretting under highly oxidizing conditions.

Formation of nickel–boron–molybdenum (Ni–B–Mo) coating on steel by electroless plating and evaluation of their morphology, hardness and tribological properties post heat treatment at different temperatures for 1 h is investigated. The 25 μm thick coating is uniform and adhesion between the substrate and coating is good. Ni–B–Mo coating was amorphous-like structure in their as-plated condition and by 400°C heat-treated coating, nickel fully crystallized and nickel borides and molybdenum carbide were formed. All coatings exhibited higher hardness than the substrate steel. Hardness values of all coatings up to 400°C did not change distinctively but decreased partly beyond 400°C. Friction coefficient reached lowest value post heat treatment at 300°C but later increased with increasing tempering temperature. Wear resistance was lowest in as-plated coating; however it reached the highest value at 300°C. Worn surface of the coatings showed the abrasive wear as the dominant wear mechanism. An additional adhesive wear mechanism was detected in coating tempered at 550°C. Moreover, our results confirmed that the molybdenum addition improved the thermal stability of the resulting coating. Therefore, Ni–B–Mo coating has potential for application in precision mould, optical parts mould or bipolar plates, where thermal stability is essential.

Different electroless Ni–P coatings were deposited on open-cell aluminum foams at various bath pH. The effect of bath pH on the morphology, structure, components, phases and corrosion resistance of the Ni–P coating was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), immersion test and electrochemical polarization measurement, respectively. The experimental results show that the bath pH not only changed the reactivity of the bath, but also had a influence on the microstructure and anticorrosive property of electroless Ni–P coating. The high pH bath raises the thickness of Ni–P coating but decreases the content of phosphorus element in the Ni–P coating. The corrosion resistance of the coated aluminum foams increases when the bath pH rises.

Electroless nickel coatings containing Mo possess higher thermal stability in comparison with the binary alloy variants. In a quest to achieve enhanced thermal stability of Ni–B coatings, Mo is incorporated to obtain a ternary Ni–B–Mo coating. The coatings are deposited on AISI 1040 steel and characterized using energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray diffraction method and scanning electron microscope. The coatings are observed to lie in the mid-B range with amorphous structure in as-deposited condition. On heat treatment, precipitation of crystalline Ni and its borides is observed. The typical cauliflower-like surface morphology of the deposits could be observed in scanning electron micrographs. Microhardness measurements reveal the enhanced thermal stability of Ni–B–Mo coatings. Tribological behavior of Ni–B–Mo coatings at room and elevated temperatures (100^∘C, 300^∘C and 500^∘C) is observed on a pin-on-disc type tribo-tester by varying the applied normal load (10–50N) and rotational speed of the counterface disc (60–100rpm). The purpose of the present work is to observe the tribological behavior and associated tribo-mechanisms at different temperatures under dry sliding condition. In general, the wear of the coatings increases with an increase in applied normal load and speed at room temperature, 100^∘C and 300^∘C. At 500^∘C, the wear increases with load but with speed it first increases up to 80rpm and then decreases. The COF does not show a similar behavior like the wear with varying load and speed at different temperatures. Instead, it is controlled by the accompanying wear mechanisms, formation of oxide debris and oxide layers of Ni and Mo. The worn surface of the coatings is examined using scanning electron microscope and EDX analysis. Back scattered images of wear tracks of Ni–B–Mo coatings at the highest levels of load (50N) and speed (100rpm) at different temperatures further reveal the oxide formation and tribochemical reactions.

We successfully obtained Ni–B and Ni–B–Ce coatings with and without sonication on low-carbon steel (Q235) through electroless plating with the deposition time of 60min. The surface morphology and elemental composition of the coatings were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The 11$\mu$m thick sonicated Ni–B–Ce (Son-Ni–B–Ce) coating is uniform with the composition of Ni 87.1%, B 6.2% and Ce 6.6%. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements implied a typical broaden peak around 44^∘, considered as amorphous structure which was confirmed by selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAED). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed a typical circular pit of Ni–B–Ce coating and Son-Ni–B–Ce coating. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the chemical status of coating components. The mechanical and corrosion resistance properties were determined by Vickers hardness tester, potentiodynamic polarization (Tafel) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 3.5wt. % NaCl solution. As a result, the Son-Ni–B–Ce coating revealed the optimum hardness (956HV), minimum roughness $R_a$ (92.38nm) and excellent corrosion resistance (3.65$\mu$Acm${}^{-2})$ among all coatings.

Graphene oxide (GO) sheet and ultrasonic field (UF) were successfully employed to produce Ni–B/GO and UF–Ni–B/GO composite coatings on Q235 mild steel by electroless plating. The composite coatings’ structure and surface morphology were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results showed that GO was successfully co-deposited in the Ni–B alloy. Moreover, UF–Ni–B/GO composite coatings have smoother surface and thicker cross-section than others. The microhardness and corrosion resistance of the sample coatings were determined using Vickers hardness tests, Tafel electrochemical tests and electrochemical impedance measurements (EIS) in 3.5wt.% NaCl solution to receive the effect of GO and ultrasonic. The findings indicated that UF–Ni–B/GO exhibited optimum hardness (856HV) and enhanced corrosion resistance (6.38 $\mu$${\text{A cm}}^{-2})$ over the Ni–B and Ni–B/GO coatings. Due to these interesting properties of the coating, it could be used as a protective material in the automotive and aerospace industries for parts of machines that were manipulated in high temperature and corrosive environments.

In this research, aluminum matrix composites reinforced with continuous carbon fibers (CFs) were fabricated using A356 aluminum alloy and PAN-based CFs by squeeze casting. For this purpose, CFs were first coated with a nickel layer using the electroless method and then the microstructure of the nickel–phosphorus (Ni–P) electroless coating was investigated. In the next step, composite samples reinforced with volume fractions of 5, 10, and 15 vol.% CFs coated with Ni–P coating were fabricated by squeeze casting at 60 MPa, and then microstructure and mechanical properties were examined. The results of the bending test on the composite samples indicated that the nickel coating had a significant effect on the flexural strength of the composite and increased the flexural strength by up to 30%. In addition, with the increase in the volume percentage of the fibers, the hardness of the samples increased while both the wear rate and the coefficient of friction decreased. Moreover, the best wear resistance was observed in the sample containing 15 vol.% as-coated carbon fibers. The Ni coating led to the formation of a mechanically mixed layer (MML) containing a fine mixture of metallic oxides and carbon thus enhancing the wear resistance.

The present work deals with the synthesis of chemically deposited nickel–phosphorous (Ni–P) coating on copper substrate. The process parameters are optimized for maximum hardness based on L${}_{27}$ Taguchi orthogonal design with three process parameters, viz., bath temperature, concentration of nickel Sulphate (a nickel source) and concentration of sodium hypophosphite (a reducing agent), respectively. This is considered and fitted into an L${}_{27}$ orthogonal array (OA) to find out the optimized condition for improved hardness of the coating. The optimized results were obtained from 35g/L of Nickel Sulphate, 20g/L of Sodium Hypophosphite and 90^∘C of temperature. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the significance of the individual process parameters. ANOVA showed that the factor Nickel Sulphate, the interaction between Sodium Hypophosphite and Temperature were significant in determining the hardness of the coating deposited in the optimized condition. The surface morphology, compositional and phase structure analysis of optimized sample are conducted with the help of scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyzer, respectively.

Metal electrodeposition systems exhibit tree-like structures with fractal character. Although such ’dendritic’ deposits are typically obtained by electrolysis, we can grow beautiful ramification patterns via a simple redox reaction. We present here a study of 1. silver (Ag) deposits from the reduction of Ag⁺ in (AgNO₃) solution by metallic copper and 2. copper (Cu) deposits from the reduction of Cu²⁺ by metallic zinc. The experiments are carried out in discotic geometry in a Petri dish. A wide variety of deposited structures and patterns, with different fractalities are obtained. We undertake the task of varying both the concentration of Ag⁺ and Cu²⁺ in the two sets of experiments. Whereas the Ag deposits showed little effect of concentration in the 2D spread, the Cu deposits exhibited a rich and varied spectrum of morphologies and textures.