Preparation of Oil-Encapsulated Microcapsules and Tribological Property of Ni Composite Coating

Microcapsules containing oil are potential candidate materials for preparing electrocomposite coatings with excellent tribological properties. In the present study, the preparation of oil-encapsulated microcapsules and electrodeposition of Ni-microcapsule composite coating are presented along with the properties of the coating. In situ interfacial polymerization method was used for the preparation of lubricating oil-encapsulated urea-formaldehyde microcapsules. The synthesized microcapsules were incorporated into the nickel matrix by electrodeposition using Ni-Watts bath. The Ni-composite coating containing microcapsules exhibited smaller Ni grain size, higher microhardness and lower surface roughness compared to plain Ni coating. Electrodeposited Ni coating containing oil-encapsulated microcapsules exhibited improved tribological properties with lower wear loss and coefficient of friction compared to plain nickel coating.