Microstructure and wear resistance of nickel-carbon nanotube composite coating from brush plating technique

This paper investigates the microstructure and wear resistance of nickel-carbon nanotube (CNT) composite coating deposited by brush plating technique. The Ni/CNT coating deposited with a pulse current source has less porosity, higher hardness and higher wear resistance than that with a DC source. CNTs greatly improve the coating performance. The wear mechanism is mainly the smearing of the Ni/CNTs coatings, instead of the fracture for the Ni coatings.