Influence of SiC nanoparticles and saccharin on the structure and properties of electrodeposited Ni-Fe/SiC nanocomposite coatings

In this study, Ni-Fe/SiC nanocomposite coatings with smooth and crack-free surface were successfully prepared by means of the conventional electrodeposition in the presence of saccharin in electrolyte. The goal of this work was to investigate the effect of SiC nanoparticles and saccharin on the structure and properties of permalloy nanocomposite coatings. The nanocomposite coatings were characterized using optical and scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The significant variation in the crystallographic texture of the coatings was observed due to the addition of SiC nanoparticles and saccharin in the electrodeposition bath. Increasing the amount of saccharin in the electrolyte led to a change in the texture from a (2 0 0) fiber texture to mixed (3 11) and (2 0 0) textures. Our results indicated that inclusion of SiC nanoparricles suppressed the preferred growth direction of the Ni-Fe matrix, resulting in a decrease in the sharpness of the (2 0 0) fiber texture and formation of a more random texture. The presence of SiC nanoparticles in the metallic matrix also led to the production of composite films with better corrosion resistance and higher microhardness than the Ni-Fe coating. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.