Applied Surface Science 258 (2011) 590–598 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Surface Science jou rn al h om epa g e: www.elsevier.com/locate/apsusc Synthesis, characterization and comparison of sediment electro-codeposited nickel–micro and nano SiC composites P. Narasimman a , Malathy Pushpavanam a,∗ , V.M. Periasamy b a Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering & Technology, Karaikudi 630 004, India b Abdul Rahman University, Chennai 630 048, India a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 19 June 2011 Received in revised form 5 August 2011 Accepted 5 August 2011 Available online 7 September 2011 Keywords: -SiC micro/nanocomposites Sediment electro-codeposition Hardness and wear testing Scratch testing Roughness Surface morphology a b s t r a c t Nickel–silicon carbide composites were produced using 1 m and 50 nm size powders from a conven- tional Watt’s bath using tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide as the surfactant. Sediment codeposition technique with horizontal electrodes was used. The effect of silicon carbide concentration and bath oper- ating parameters on the volume percents and deposition rates of coatings obtained with the two different particles was studied. Substantial improvements in mechanical properties such as hardness, wear resis- tance, scratch resistance and roughness were obtained with the nanocomposite material, as compared with composites containing microsized particles. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The codeposition of ceramic particles with metals from elec- trolytic solutions for the production of metal matrix composite coatings is a broad area of research interest as these coatings are used for a wide variety of industrial applications, especially in the area of tribology [1–5]. This process has the advantages of low working temperatures, low cost, easy maintenance, ability to produce composite coatings and versatility with different combination of properties by just changing the electroplating conditions [6]. The low processing tem- perature (around room temperature) minimizes interdiffusion or chemical reaction between the substrate and coating species. The film thickness can be accurately controlled by monitoring the con- sumed charge and the composition can be tailored by the electrical applied profile and bath composition [7]. Moreover, it is quickly scaled up to industrial production, offering an inexpensive method to produce large area samples. The embedded second-phase hard particles impart special phys- ical and mechanical properties to these coatings [8]. Uniform dispersion of the second-phase hard particles leads to the improve- ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 4565 227852. E-mail address: malathypush@yahoo.com (M. Pushpavanam). ment of the mechanical and tribological, properties of the coatings [9,10]. The process can be carried out using either Conventional Electro-Co-Deposition technique (CECD) in which the electrodes are positioned vertically in the plating cell or by Sediment Electro- Co-Deposition (SECD) in which the electrodes are positioned horizontally one over the other with sufficient inter-electrode dis- tance so that the particle settle on the electrode surface as sediment on the cathode as the metal deposition progresses [11,12]. The latter has the advantage of yielding considerably higher vol.% incor- poration of particles in the deposit compared to the CECD technique for a given vol.% of particles in the solution. This has the advantage of conserving the costly insoluble powders especially those with a very fine size. Schematic of the CECD and SECD techniques are shown in Fig. 1. With the emergence of nanostructured materials, research on the production of nanocomposite coatings by electrolytic co- deposition has received much interest due mainly to the fact that these coatings can enhance properties like hardness [13,14], wear resistance [15], strength [16,17], corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance and self-lubrication, etc., to a plated surface [18,3,19]. Materials are considered nanosized when one of the components dimensions are in the nanometer scale, with typical dimensions smaller than 100 nm. A variety of nanosized particles ranging from 4 nm to 800 nm diameters, have been successfully incorporated 0169-4332/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.08.038