Effect of attapulgite added in plating bath on the properties of Ni/TiC nano-composite coatings

Pure copper plates were coated by Ni-TiC dipulse current plating method. The effects of adding different concentration(ranging from 0.5 g/L to 3.0 g/L) of attapulgite nano particles to the plating bath on the surface morphology, wear resistance, and oxidation resistance of Ni/TiC/Attapulgite nano-composite coatings were investigated. The experimental results show that the composite coating is flat and compact with adding 3.0 g/L in the bath, and the coating preferred orientation is changed from the planes (111) to (200). The coefficient of the composite coatings decreases from 0.68 to 0.18 with increasing content of attapulgite in the bath, a mixed mode of adhesive-abrasive wear occurs for all coatings, and the wear mechanism shows a transition from adhesive-abrasive to predominantly abrasive wear mechanism when the concentration of attapulgite is beyond 1.5 g/L in electrolyte. The oxidation resistance of composite coatings is the best prepared when adding attapulgite particles at 0.5 g/L in the bath, the oxide mainly consists of a NiO phase by X-ray analysis.