Influence of Deposition Temperature and WC Concentration on the Microstructure of Electroless Ni-P-WC Nanocomposite Coatings with Improved Hardness and Corrosion Resistance

This study aims to develop Ni-P coatings with high P content (≥11 wt.%) reinforced with WC nanoparticles on F22 steel substrates. The introduction of conductive WC in the plating solution dramatically increases reactivity of the plating solution, and consequently a tuning of deposition parameters, in terms of temperature and WC concentration, is required to obtain nanocomposite coatings with improved mechanical properties. The coatings’ porosity and incorporation and dispersion of the reinforcing phase as a function of temperature and WC concentration were analyzed by quantitative image analysis from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs. Increasing the temperature and concentration of nanoparticles leads to a faster plating rate and a dramatic increase in both porosity and agglomeration of the reinforcing phase, with detrimental effects on the coatings’ microhardness. The best compromise between coating parameters was obtained by deposition at 70 °C and 6.5 g/L of WC, with a plating rate ≈ 12 μm/h, porosity lower than 1.5%, and a good combination between particle incorporation and agglomeration. In these conditions, a hardness increase by 34% is achieved in comparison to standard Ni-P. Coatings were then heat treated in air at 200 °C for 2 h, to induce growing stress relaxation, or 400 °C for 1 h, to study effects of crystallization and precipitation. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated that WC introduction does not alter the microstructure of Ni-P coatings, but delays grain growth coarsening of precipitates. Hardness improvement by 6.5% and 45% is registered after treatment at 200 °C and 400 °C, respectively. An increase in elastic modulus, measured by instrumented indentation, was found in WC-reinforced coatings compared with Ni-P. Potentiodynamic polarization tests revealed that both introduction of WC nanoparticles and heat treatment also enhance corrosion resistance.