Fabrication and characterization of Ni-Zr composite coatings using electrodepositing technique

The main goal of this research is to prepare Ni-Zr composite coatings with different amounts of Zr microparticles by using electrodeposition technology. Different characterization techniques including X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive Xray Spectroscopy (EDX) were used to investigate the effects of Zr micro-particle contents on the surface morphology, texture, grain size, residual stress and hardness of the Ni-Zr composite coatings. The electrochemical impedance and potentiodynamic polarization measurements were also used to examine the corrosion resistance. As the Zr contents in the Ni-Zr composite coating increased, the (200) texture changed to the (111) texture, the grain size decreased, the residual stress and hardness increased. The anti-corrosion properties of the Ni-Zr composite coatings could be linked to several reasons such as the amount of Zr micro-particles in the deposits, a decrease in grain size, and a change in the texture of the deposits. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.