Development and investigation of Cu/SiC nano-composite coatings via various parameters of DC electrodeposition

In this paper, Cu/SiC nano-composite coatings were prepared on the surface of pure copper substrates using DC electrodeposition. The mechanism of co-deposition of SiC nano-particles in the Cu matrix was studied. To reach a better adjustment between SiC incorporations and Cu matrix, the variation in the microhardness as a key property was studied by investigating the effect of various electrodeposition parameters such as, additive saccharin concentration, pH, mechanically stirring speed, temperature, and current density. The optimum morphology with the maximum microhardness was achieved using the following conditions; saccharin concentration of 1.5 g/L, pH of 0.9, stirring speed of 200 rpm, temperature of 50 degrees C, and current density of 2 A/dm(2).