Investigation of Tribological Behavior of Electrodeposited Cr, Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 Nano-Composite Coatings

Authors: S. Mahdavi, S. R. Allahkaram

Abstract:

Electrodeposition is a simple and economic technique for precision coating of different shaped substrates with pure metal, alloy or composite films. Dc electrodeposition was used to produce Cr, Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 nano-composite coatings from Cr(III) based electrolytes onto 316L SS substrates. The effects of TiO2 nanoparticles concentration on co-deposition of these particles along with Cr content and microhardness of the coatings were investigated. Morphology of the Cr, Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 coatings besides their tribological behavior were studied. The results showed that increment of TiO2 nanoparticles concentration from 0 to 30 g L-1 in the bath increased their co-deposition and Cr content of the coatings from 0 to 3.5 wt.% and from 23.7 to 31.2 wt.%, respectively. Microhardness of Cr coating was about 920 Hv which was higher than Co-Cr and even Co-Cr/TiO2 films. Microhardness of Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 coatings were improved by increasing their Cr and TiO2 content. All the coatings had nodular morphology and contained microcracks. Nodules sizes and the number of microcracks in the alloy and composite coatings were lower than the Cr film. Wear results revealed that the Co-Cr/TiO2 coating had the lowest wear loss between all the samples, while the Cr film had the worst wear resistance.

Keywords: Co-Cr alloy, electrodeposition, nano-composite, tribological behavior, trivalent chromium.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1107019

References:

[1] C.U. Chisholm, Cobalt-chromium coatings by electrodeposition: Review and initial experimental studies, Electrodepos. Surf. Treat. 3 (1975) 321– 333.
[2] D.P. Weston, P.H. Shipway, S.J. Harris, M.K. Cheng, Friction and sliding wear behaviour of electrodeposited cobalt and cobalt–tungsten alloy coatings for replacement of electrodeposited chromium, Wear 267 (2009) 934–943.
[3] V.S. Protsenko, F.I. Danilov, Chromium electroplating from trivalent chromium baths as an environmentally friendly alternative to hazardous hexavalent chromium baths: comparative study on advantages and disadvantages, Clean Technol. Environ. Policy 16 (2014) 1201–1206.
[4] C.A. Huang, C.K. Lin, C.Y. Chen, Hardness variation and corrosion behavior of as-plated and annealed Cr–Ni alloy deposits electroplated in a trivalent chromium-based bath, Surf. Coat. Technol. 203 (2009) 3686– 3691.
[5] Y.I. Choi, T. Eguchi, T. Asao, K. Kuroda, M. Okido, Mechanism for the formation of black Cr-Co electrodeposits from Cr3+ solution containing oxalic acid, J. Electrochem. Soc. 161 (2014) 713–718.
[6] S. Survilienė, V. Jasulaitienė, A. Češūnienė, A. Lisowska-Oleksiak, The use of XPS for study of the surface layers of Cr–Co alloy electrodeposited from Cr(III) formate–urea baths, Solid State Ionics 179 (2008) 222–227.
[7] C.A. Huang, U.W. Lieu, C.H. Chuang, Role of nickel undercoat and reduction-flame heating on the mechanical properties of Cr–C deposit electroplated from a trivalent chromium based bath, Surf. Coat. Technol. 203 (2009) 2921–2926.
[8] Z. Zeng, J. Zhang, Electrodeposition and tribological behavior of amorphous chromium-alumina composite coatings, Surf. Coat. Technol. 202 (2008) 2725–2730.
[9] M.S. Marwah, V. Srinivas, A. K. Pandey, S.R. Kumar, K. Biswas, J. Maity, Morphological changes during annealing of electrodeposited Ni- Cr coating on steel and their effect on corrosion in 3% of NaCl solution, J. Iron. Steel Res. Int. 18 (2011) 72–78.
[10] G. Saravanan, S. Mohan, Structure, composition and corrosion resistance studies of Co–Cr alloy electrodeposited from deep eutectic solvent (DES), J. Alloys Compd. 522 (2012) 162– 166.
[11] R. Ahmed, H.L. de Villiers Lovelock , S. Davies, N.H. Faisal, Influence of Re-HIPing on the structure–property relationships of cobalt-based alloys, Tribol. Int. 57 (2013) 8–21.
[12] M. Li, Z. Ke-chao, L. Zhi-you, W. Qiu-ping, Electrodeposition of Ni- Co-Fe2O3 composite coatings, J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. 17 (2010) 708−714.
[13] J. Gao, J. Suo, Preparation and characterization of the electrodeposited Cr–Al2O3/SiC composite coating, Appl. Surf. Sci. 257 (2011) 9643– 9648.
[14] N. Guglielmi, Kinetics of the deposition of inert particles from electrolytic baths, J. Electrochem. Soc. 119 (1972) 1009–1012.
[15] B.A. Spiridonov, Electrodeposition of chromium-cobalt alloy coatings from sulfate electrolytes, Russ. J. Appl. Chem. 76 (2003) 65–70.
[16] Y. Yu-fang, G. Zhu-qing, D. Li-yuan, L. Bei-ping, M. Yu-tian, Y. Zhenhui, Electrodeposition of Ni-Cr alloy on aluminum substrate, J. Cent. South Univ. Technol 13 (2006) 219–224.
[17] M. Adabi, A.A. Amadeh, Electrodeposition mechanism of Ni-Al composite coating, Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 24(2014) 3189– 3195.
[18] A. Neville, V. Kollia-Rafailidi, A comparison of boundary wear film formation on steel and a thermal sprayed Co/Cr/Mo coating under sliding conditions, Wear 252 (2002) 227–239.
[19] M. Masoudi, M. Hashim, H. Mohamed Kamari, M. Sapuan Salit, Fabrication and characterization of Ni–SiC–Cr nanocomposite coatings, Appl. Nanosci. 3 (2013) 357–362.
[20] M. Rezaei-Sameti, S. Nadali, J. Rajabi, M. Rakhshi, The effects of pulse electrodeposition parameters on morphology, hardness and wear behavior of nano-structure Cr–WC composite coatings, J. Mol. Struct. 1020 (2012) 23–27.
[21] S. Surviliene, V. Jasulaitiene, A. Lisowska-oleksiak, V.A. Safonov, Effect of WC on electrodeposition and corrosion behaviour of chromium coatings, J. Appl. Electrochem. 35 (2005) 9–15.
[22] J.F. Archard, Contact and rubbing of flat surfaces, J. Appl. Phys. 24 (1953) 981–988.
[23] S. Mahdavi, S.R. Allahkaram, Characteristics of electrodeposited cobalt and titania nano-reinforced cobalt composite coatings, Surf. Coat. Technol. 232 (2013) 198–203.
[24] S. Mahdavi, F. Akhlaghi, Effect of the SiC particle size on the dry sliding wear behavior of SiC and SiC–Gr-reinforced Al6061 composites, J. Mater. Sci. (2011) 46:7883–7894.