Effect of BN(h) content on the friction and wear properties of ultrasonic-pulse electrodeposited Ni-P-WC-BN(h) coatings

In order to improve the surface hardness and wear reduction and abrasion resistance of the material, Ni-P-WC-BN(h) nanocomposite coatings were prepared on the surface of 20CrMnTi by using ultrasonic-pulsed electrodeposition method, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) was used to study the physical phase of the coatings and estimate the grain size, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy spectrum analyzer (EDS), microhardness tester, and laser microscope were used to analyze the surface morphology, tissue composition, microhardness, and wear reduction performance of Ni-P, Ni-P-WC, and Ni-P-WC-BN(h) nanocomposite coatings with different BN(h) concentrations. The results show that different nanoparticle concentrations have important effects on the organization of the composite coating surface, the surface of the nanocomposite coating shows a typical package structure, and the co-deposition of binary nanoparticles with appropriate concentrations effectively improves the coating microscopic morphology.The hardness of Ni-P-WC-BN(h) nanocomposite coating in the plated state can be up to 1156 HV₁, which is comparable to that of the Ni-P-WC nanocomposite coating in terms of guaranteeing the micro hardness of Ni-P-WC nanocomposite coating and its wear-resistance. Compared with Ni-P-WC nanocomposite coating, the coefficient of friction is reduced by 22.6% while ensuring the high hardness of Ni-P-WC nanocomposite coating in the plated state, which has better wear reduction and abrasion resistance.