Attractive effects of Re on electroless Ni-P-TiN nanocomposite coating

Abstract Three different types of coatings Ni-P, Ni-P-TiN and Ni-P-TiN-Re are successfully prepared on a copper substrate by electroless plating. The effects of TiN and TiN + Re addition on surface morphology, microstructure, phase composition, deposition rate, thermal stability and wear resistance are investigated. Results show that all coatings exhibit amorphous microstructures, and that Re addition can significantly increase the deposition rate based on the coating thickness. X-ray diffraction of the coating before and after annealing indicates that the addition of TiN nanoparticles to the Ni-P coating barely affects the microstructures and phase transformation behavior, while the addition of Re results in a remarkable increase in crystallization temperature. Regardless of whether it is annealed or not, the wear resistance of Ni-P coating can be significantly improved after the co-deposition of TiN or TiN + Re, and the synergy effect of Re and TiN can further enhance the improvement. These findings provide a pathway to efficiently produce Ni-P-nano TiN composite coatings with excellent performance and thus have great potential in large-scale industry applications.