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.

Keywords:

• Electroless Cu
• Micro/nanoSiC
• Corrosion
• Hardness
• Wear

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Amir Kabir University of Technology and Iran University of Science and Technology for the use of their facilities.