Microstructure and properties of nanocrystalline nickel coatings prepared by pulse jet electrodeposition

The fabrication of nanocrystalline nickel coatings was conducted by pulse jet electrodeposition on the substrate of 45# carbon steel.The effects of average current density on the surface morphology,microstructure,average grain size and microhardness of nickel coatings were investigated by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),X-ray diffractometry(XRD)and microhardness measurement.In addition,the corrosion resistances of coating and substrate were compared.It is revealed that the nickel coatings prepared by pulse jet electrodeposition exhibit a fine-grained structure with a smooth surface and a high density,although some pores and defects are still present in coatings.With the increase of average current density,the average grain size of nickel coatings is reduced at first and then increased.The coating with the optimum compactness,the smallest average grain size(13.7 nm)and the highest microhardness are obtained at current density of 39.8 A/dm2.The corrosion resistance is obviously increased for the coatings prepared by pulse jet electrodeposition;however,the corrosion rate is increased after a certain period due to the penetration of the corrosive media.

High corrosion and wear resistant electroless Ni–P gradient coatings on aviation aluminum alloy parts

A Ni–P alloy gradient coating consisting of multiple electroless Ni–P layers with various phosphorus contents was prepared on the aviation aluminum alloy. Several characterization and electrochemical techniques were used to characterize the different Ni–P coatings’ morphologies, phase structures, elemental compositions, and corrosion protection. The gradient coating showed good adhesion and high corrosion and wear resistance, enabling the application of aluminum alloy in harsh environments. The results showed that the double zinc immersion was vital in obtaining excellent adhesion (81.2 N). The optimal coating was not peeled and shredded even after bending tests with angles higher than 90°and was not corroded visually after 500 h of neutral salt spray test at 35℃. The high corrosion resistance was attributed to the misaligning of these micro defects in the three different nickel alloy layers and the amorphous structure of the high P content in the outer layer. These findings guide the exploration of functional gradient coatings that meet the high application requirement of aluminum alloy parts in complicated and harsh aviation environments.

Composite Ni-Nanodiamond Coating Deposited by Electroless Method

The work in this study is focused on investigation of composite nickel coatings. The coatings were deposited on ductile cast iron samples of different composition by electroless method EFTTOM NICKEL with addition of strengthening nanodiamond particles （2-4 nm）, The samples were prepared by casting and austempering. The microstructure, microhardness and wear resistance of the coatings were investigated. The thickness of the coatings was also determined （8-10μm）. Metallographic analyses, SEM （scanning electron microscopic） investigation, microhardness measurements by knoop method, wear resistance tests were carried out. The coatings with and without heat treatment at 290℃, 6 h were tested. Duplication of microhardness value and improvement of the coating＇s properties of heat treated coatings were observed.

Coupling a titanium dioxide based heterostructure photoanode with electroless-deposited nickel-phosphorus alloy coating on magnesium alloy for enhanced corrosion protection

The utilization of photoelectrochemical cathodic protection(PECCP)enables an indirect corrosion pro-tection of metals with low self-corrosion potential by introducing a metallic nickel interlayer.However,the ability to enhance the PECCP efficiency remains challenging because of the inherent property of the semiconductor.Herein,this ability is demonstrated by coupling a covalent organic framework(TpBD)dec-orated TiO 2 photoanode(TiO 2/TpBD)with nickel coating on magnesium alloy for an effective corrosion protection.The composite photoanode showed direct PECCP for the nickel interlayer and indirect corro-sion protection of the magnesium alloy.The composite structure of the nanotube array and the covalent organic framework for the photoanode were confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy(FESEM),transmission electron microscopy(TEM),and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS).The en-hanced photoelectrochemical conversion capability and PECCP performance of the nickel-coated Mg alloy were evidenced by the results from electrochemical and photoelectrochemical measurements including Mott-Schottky curves,photoinduced potential variations,and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS).Lastly,a corrosion protection mechanism is proposed,where the enhanced PECCP efficiency is at-tributed to the formation of a direct Z-scheme heterojunction,which is substantiated by the results from valence band(VB)XPS and electron spin resonance characterizations.

Mechanistic Investigation into the Role of Aluminum Diffusion in the Oxidation Behavior of Cryomilled NiCrAlY Bond Coat

High temperature oxidation behavior of the bond coat layer is a critical factor that controls the failure mechanism of thermal barrier coatings（TBCs）.Previous work reveald that TBCs with cryomilled NiCrAlY bond coats exhibited an improved oxidation behavior compared to equivalent TBCs with conventional bond coats.The cryomilled NiCrAlY bond coats contributed to a slower growth rate of thermally grown oxides（TGO） with a final thinner thickness and enhanced homogeneity in TGO composition.To better understand the improved oxidation behavior,a mechanistic investigation based on diffusion theory and quantum mechanics is performed to elucidate the role of aluminum diffusion in the oxidation behavior and how the microstructural features of the cryomilled NiCrAlY bond coats,i e,the creation of a thermally stable,uniform distribution of ultrafine Al-rich oxide dispersoids,affect the diffusion kinetics of Al and the migration of free electrons.It is revealed that these Al-rich oxide dispersoids result in a uniform diffusion of Al and slow migration of free electrons within the NiCrAlY bond coat,consequently leading to the improved oxidation behavior.

Preparation and microwave absorption property of Ni/Al powder

As a functional composite material,nickel-coated aluminum powder has been widely used in conductive fillers,electromagnetic shielding materials and other fields due to its advantages of low density,high conductivity and low cost.In this paper,nickel-plated aluminum powder was prepared by a sodium hypophosphite system.The effects of different nickel coating amounts(the percentage of nickel-plating quality to nickel-plated aluminum powder quality)on the morphology,phase,compaction resistivity and electromagnetic parameters of nickel-plated aluminum powder coating were studied.The X-Ray Diffraction(XRD)results proved the successful preparation of nickel-coated aluminum powders with different nickel coating amounts.The Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM)images clearly show the coating effect under different nickel coating amounts.By plating nickel on the surface of aluminum powder,the surface characteristics of aluminum powder are changed,so as to adjust its conductivity,resistance,stability and other properties,thus affecting its electromagnetic performance and wave absorption performance.The results show that the comprehensive absorbing performance is excellent when the nickel coating amount is 40%.The reflection loss of the sample with a thickness of 2.0mm is less than-10 dB in the frequency range of 10.17–12.38 GHz.When the frequency is 10.72 GHz,the minimum reflection loss reaches33:17 dB.

Effect of laser-discrete-quenching on bonding properties of electroplated grinding wheel with AISI 1045 steel substrate and nickel bond

To improve the bonding strength between the nickel bond and the hub of the electroplated diamond grinding wheel,a hybrid technique was proposed to combine laser prequenching steel substrate and post-electroplating nickel.To validate the effectiveness of the proposed technique,AISI 1045 substrate was nickel-coated.The bonding properties between the electroplated nickel coating and substrate with or without laser-discrete-quenching were discussed comparatively by scratch,indentation,and thermal shock tests.The results show that the prequenching treatment leads to phase transformation of AISI 1045 microstructure from the mixed pearlite and ferrite phases into the martensitic phase.Since the martensitic phase is characterized as a high corrosion resistance,the interface of substrate/coating is smooth and flat in the prequenched zone,and the coating is bonded well with the steel substrate.In contrast to the steel substrate without pre-quenching treatment,the proposed technique significantly enhanced the bonding strengths of the electroplated nickel-coating.On one hand,the average hardness of electroplated nickel-coating on the laser pre-quenched zone is increased by 18.7%,and the scratch depth with the same load become narrower and shallower.On the other hand,the coefficient of friction(CoF)and the vibration amplitude are reduced,and the coating is bonded effectively with the substrate to inhibit the crack initialization at the interface.This prevents effectively the coating from peeling off and improves significantly the thermal shock resistance property.

Effect of activators on the properties of nickel coated diamond composite powders

Nickel coated diamond composite powders were fabricated via a newly developed direct electrodeposition technique. The effects of activators on the coating of diamond were firstly investigated and diamond grinding wheels were then prepared from Ni-coated diamond composite powders with different activators. The microstructural characterizations of this composite powders were finally conducted by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, and the mechanical and tribological properties of as-prepared diamond grinding wheels were also measured. There are changes in microstructures and properties of the composite powders with activators. The activator concentration also has an influence on the morphologies and phase structures of the Ni coating on diamond particles.The composite powders with more compact coating of nickel can be prepared by adding 1 g dm^（-3） or more AgNO_3 as an activator to electrodeposit nickel on diamond. The mechanical and tribological properties of diamond grinding wheels were significantly improved when the coating phase structure of Ni crystal grew with（111） plane orientation on the surface of diamond particles. The wheels made from nickel coated diamond composite powders possessed the advantages of easy preparation and outstanding tribological properties. Therefore, Ni coated diamond composite powders exhibit a great potential to be extensively applied in diamond cutting and grinding tools.

Analytic estimation and numerical modeling of actively cooled thermal protection systems with nickel alloys

Actively cooled thermal protection system has great influence on the engine of a hypersonic vehicle, and it is significant to obtain the thermal and stress distribution in the system. So an analytic estimation and numerical modeling are performed in this paper to investigate the behavior of an actively cooled thermal protection system. The analytic estimation is based on the electric analogy method and finite element analysis（FEA） is applied to the numerical simulation. Temperature and stress distributions are obtained for the actively cooled channel walls with three kinds of nickel alloys with or with no thermal barrier coating（TBC）. The temperature of the channel wall with coating has no obvious difference from the one with no coating, but the stress with coating on the channel wall is much smaller than that with no coating. Inconel X-750 has the best characteristics among the three Ni-based materials due to its higher thermal conductivity, lower elasticity module and greater allowable stress. Analytic estimation and numerical modeling results are compared with each other and a reasonable agreement is obtained.

Metal-organic framework[NH_(2)-MIL-53(Al)]functionalized TiO_(2)nanotube photoanodes for highly stable and efficient photoelectrochemical cathodic protection of nickel-coated Mg alloy

Metal-organic framework[MOF,i.e.,NH_(2)-MIL-53(Al)]modified TiO_(2)(NMT)composite photoanodes were successfully prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and were used for the photoelectrochemical cathodic protection(PECCP)of nickel-plated magnesium alloy(Mg/Ni).Results showed that the synthesis tem-perature significantly impacted the morphology and PECCP performance of the NMT photoanodes.The NMT@150 photoanode prepared at a reaction temperature of 150℃exhibited the best PECCP perfor-mance and produced a current density of 1980μA cm^(-2)under visible light irradiation,which was 19.8 times higher than that of a single TiO_(2)photoanode.The composite photoanode could polarize the open circuit potential of the coupled Mg/Ni electrode to-876 mV and remain relatively stable within 35 h.XPS and EPR tests showed that a Z-scheme heterojunction was formed between the NH_(2)-MIL-53(Al)and TiO_(2)nanotubes,allowing the photogenerated electrons to accumulate mainly on the conduction band of NH_(2)-MIL-53(Al).The heterojunction greatly promoted the separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole in the NMT composite photoanode,significantly enhancing the PECCP performance for Mg/Ni.