Tribological behaviors of nanocrystalline nickel coatings under lubricated conditions

摘要

In this paper, nickel coatings (on phosphor bronze substrates) were prepared using pulse electrodeposition method. The friction and wear behaviors of nanocrystalline nickel coating compared with coarse-grained nickel coating against AISI 52100 steel were investigated using l-butyl-3-octylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid and perfluoropolyether as a reference lubricant on reciprocating ball-on-flat UMT-2MT sliding tester. The morphologies of the worn surfaces were observed using a scanning electron microscope. The chemical states of several typical elements on the worn surfaces were examined by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results indicated that NC nickel coatings have better tribological properties than that of coarse-grained nickel coatings under lubricated conditions. This was partly attributed to the high hardness of the NC nickel coating and L-B408 ionic liquid formed tribochemical reaction films under NC nickel coatings.