Investigations on the properties of composite coatings electro co-deposited on AZ80 Mg alloy using triangular waveform pulse current

Abstract

Abstract In this research, boron carbide (B4C) and titanium carbide (TiC) nanoparticles were deposited along with Nickel on AZ80 magnesium alloy substrates. Triangular waveform pulse current was used for depositing the coatings on the substrate. The objective of this research is to investigate the microstructural evolution of the coatings in response to the current density, duty cycle and the concentration of reinforcements in the bath. The influence of process parameters were also assessed in terms of the microhardness and specific wear rate. To enhance the surface properties of AZ80 magnesium alloy, a three component layer was successfully applied via electro co-deposition technique for the first time. The magnesium alloy substrates were cleaned and pretreated as per ASTM B480−88. The pretreated samples were coated at three levels of current density viz. 1.5 A dm−2, 2 A dm−2 and 2.5 A dm−2, and the duty cycle was varied between 30%, 40% and 50%. The concentrations of reinforcements in the bath were kept at 0 g l−1, 0.5 g l−1 and 1 g l−1. The samples were coated according to Taguchi L9 orthogonal array with two replications. The microstructural studies conducted using scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed the defects, grain refinement and homogeneous distribution of reinforcements in the Ni matrix. The deposition and orientation of reinforcements in preferred planes were investigated with XRD. Vickers microhardness tests conducted as per ASTM E384-17 revealed that the sample coated with 2.5 A dm−2 current density, 30% duty cycle, 1 g l−1 B4C and 0.5 g l−1 TiC produced the coatings with the highest hardness of 412.56 Hv. XRD patterns revealed higher Ni peaks and preferential deposition in the (201) plane of B4C and (200) plane of TiC causing the hardness to improve. The results of the pin on disc wear tests conducted according to ASTM G99 were in agreement with the hardness results and the corresponding microstructure. The sample with the maximum microhardness exhibited the minimum specific wear rate of 2.1 E-08 mm3 Nm−1. The ability of triangular pulse current in waveform to deposit hybrid composite coatings on AZ80 magnesium alloy and enhance its surface properties has been confirmed by the results of this research.