Tribological properties of nanostructured WC/CoNi and WC/CoNiP coatings produced by electro-deposition

In this paper, an unique environmentally friendly electroplating process of hardfacing nanostructured WC/CoNi or WC/CoNiP coatings was developed. In the coatings, the nanophase WC particles are uniformly dispersed in a cobalt-nickel or a cobalt-nickel-phosphor-us matrix, resulting in a "near net coating" with high hardness (650-850 VHN), low coefficient of friction (0.1-0.31), low wear rate (0.41 x 10(-5) mm(3)/N m), and smooth as-coated surface (0.7 mum). This new coating technology is anticipated to emerge as a next generation high performance coating replacing electroplated hard chromium and thermal sprayed WC/Co for specific applications. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.