Fabrication and Characterization of Ni-SiC Nanocomposite Coatings on Al Substrates by Ball Impact Deposition Method

Micron-size Ni and SiC powder mixtures were used to prepare Ni-SiC nanocomposite coatings on an Al substrate by employing a high-energy ball milling technique. Ni:SiC weight ratio was varied over a wide range to explore the effect of the charge composition on the microstructure, composition, microhardness, and wear properties of the depositions. It was observed that the composition of the produced coating was correlated to the charge composition in a complex manner, which suggests that deposition rates for Ni and SiC particles significantly vary depending on the charge composition; SiC deposition rate was higher than that of Ni when Ni:SiC weight ratio was greater than 3:1. Diffusion of Al from the substrate into the Ni matrix provided evidence for the metallurgical bonding at the interface. Both microstructural and mechanical properties of the produced coatings were found to be crucially dependent on the charge composition. By increasing the SiC content in the charge from about 5 to 33 wt pct, the mechanical properties enhanced due to the dispersion strengthening effect of the incorporated SiC particles in the coatings and the crystallite size of the Ni matrix decreasing to the nanometer range. However, a further increase resulted in the formation of a coating with a poor degree of compaction. It was found that the composite coating with about 15 vol pct SiC, produced from the charge with Ni:SiC weight ratio of 2:1, showed a microhardness as high as 830 HV_0.05 along with excellent wear resistance. Despite the current sample size limitations for applying high-energy ball milling, the present findings demonstrate that the adopted technique holds good prospect for the synthesis of nanostructured metal matrix composite coatings with enhanced and tunable properties.