Sliding Wear Characteristics of Silver Particles Incorporated Electroless Nickel Phosphorus Composite Coatings

摘要

In the present investigation, nickel-phosphorus coatings embedded with silver particles are deposited on AISI 1018 steel substrate using an electroless deposition technique. Ni-P/Ag composite coatings were heat-treated at 400°C for 1 h, and the influence of heat treatment on tribological properties was discussed. The as-deposited (AD) and heat-treated (HT) coatings were subjected to wear test under room temperature and 300°C sliding conditions. The results indicated that the better tribological performance was observed for the HT Ni-P/Ag coatings tested at room temperature, which is attributed to the combined effect of self-lubrication and higher hardness. Wear track characterization was carried out using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to understand wear mechanisms.