Preparation and tribological performance of Ni-SiC composite coating on 304 stainless steel through brush plating

The low hardness of 304 stainless steels makes them susceptible to wear, which increasing the probability of workpiece failure during actual use. In this study, a Ni-SiC composite coating was successfully prepared on 304 stainless steel using brush plating equipment, effectively enhancing the material's surface wear resistance. By characterizing the microstructure and properties of the composite plating layer, we determined the optimal process parameters for brushing Ni-SiC wear-resistant plating and revealed the wear mechanism of this protective layer. When the parameters for preparing the composite plating coating were adjusted to a voltage of 10 V, a relative motion rate of 8 m/min, a plating solution temperature of 50 °C and a SiC concentration of 15 g/L, the resulting wear-resistant plating coating exhibited an impressive microhardness value of 457 HV_0.1 and a friction coefficient of 0.46. It was observed that the fatigue wear mechanism dominated in Ni-SiC composite coatings with a solution SiC concentration below 5 g/L, while oxidative and abrasive wear mechanisms were dominant in Ni-SiC composite coatings with solution SiC concentrations exceeding 10 g/L.