Abstract. This study attempts to use a composite coating (co-deposition coating) and assesses, develops the Nickel coatings properties by combining particles of silicon carbide into the electrodeposited solution. The electroplating coating used to coat the stainless-steel samples consisted of Nickel and silicon carbide nanoscale particles having sizes between 70 to 100 nm with various contents equal to 16, 24, 32, and 40 (g/L). The samples were tested by SEM and AFM after electroplating and potentiostatic polarization test in a solution with 3.5% NaCl for investigating the corrosion behavior. Subsequently, the wear resistance and microhardness of these samples were evaluated. A great decrease in the corrosion currents due to the inert nanoparticles’ addition was obtained. The corrosion and wear resistance were improved when adding the composite coating.
Conclusions
1. For all coatings (composite coating Ni-SiC), the coated substrates were completely enclosed by a layer of a composite of nanoparticles of 70-100 nm in the average size of the grain.
2. The Ni-SiC composite layer demonstrates a stable structure with higher mechanical bonding and an exceptional crystallization for the surface because of the good combination of nickel matrix and SiC.
3. The Ni-SiC composite layer highly decreased the stainless steel 316L corrosion rate in 3.5% NaCl solution, while maximum enhancement is 90.81% and the minimum rate of corrosion is 0.08531mpy when the SiC concentration is 40 (g/L) in coated solution.
4. The stainless steel 316L sample has the highest wear rate at 40 (N) and the rate of wear decreased by 34% when the samples were coated by 32 (g/L) of Ni-SiC.
5. Vickers hardness increased by 19%, 50%, 81%, and 100% for Ni-SiC equal to 16, 24, 32, and 40 (g/L) respectively