Production and Optimization of Ni-Fe(Ti,W)C Nanocomposite Coating by Electroplating Process

Composite electroplating is a method for simultaneous plating of small ceramic particles in the plated metallic layer, in order to develop the morphology and mechanical properties. The electroplating method possesses many advantages such as low first cost, high speed of production, the possibility scaling up to industrial technologies and low service temperature. In this study, production of nano structural metal matrix composite "Ni-Fe(Ti,W)C" is investigated by electroplating method and the effect of important parameters such as substrate material and current density on coating properties, is evaluated. For this purpose, nickel bath was used under the condition of direct current. Based on the obtained results from characterizing the coating by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), it was recognized that nano structure composite Ni-Fe(Ti,W)C is producible and the steel substrate is appropriate than brass substrate with magnetic Ni-Fe matrix for electroplating of double carbid. Also with improvement of current density, surface morphology was more HV and the grain size was decreased to 27 nm smooth, the microhardness was increased to 1750.