Influence of duty cycle of pulse electrodeposition coated Ni- 2 Al2O3 nanocomposites over surface roughness. properties.

Abstract

This research presents the viability of duty cycle variation was explored as a potential method to improve mechanical and surface roughness properties of Ni-Al2O3 nanocoatings through pulse electrodeposition. Areal and surface roughness properties of nanocomposite pulse electrodepo-sition coated materials with varying duty cycle from 20% to 100% was studied, along with the analysis of bearing area curve and power spectral densities. Results demonstrate that with decrease in duty cycle, an enhancement in aerial roughness properties from 0.348 µm to 0.195 µm and surface roughness properties from 0.779 µm to 0.245 µm was observed. The change in surface roughness was due to grain size variation, resulting from the varying time intervals during pulse coatings. This increase in grain size during change in duty cycle was confirmed with the scanning electron microscope. In addition to that, increase in grain size from 0.32 µm to 0.92 µm with in-crease in duty cycle resulted in decrease in nanohardness from 4.21 GPa to 3.07 GPa. This work will provide a novel method for obtaining Ni-Al2O3 nanocomposite coating with improved surface roughness and hardness properties for wider industrial applications.