PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF Ni-TiN THIN FILMS ELECTRODEPOSITED WITH NICKEL BATHS OF DIFFERENT TiN NANOPARTICLE CONCENTRATION

Ni-TiN thin films with different TiN nanoparticle contents were successfully fabricated from a nickel bath with the addition of four TiN nanoparticles loadings (2, 4, 6 and 8 g/L). The influence of the TiN nanoparticle content on the film structure, micro-hardness, micro-strain and residual stress was examined, and the film wear behavior was investigated in detail. The results showed that the average size of the nickel grains and TiN nanoparticles is 68.1nm and 22.6 nm, respectively, for the film deposited with 8 g/L TiN. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the film deposited with 2 g/L TiN displays the (2 0 0) preferred orientation; however, when the concentration of TiN in the bath was increased to 6 g/L, such orientation was suppressed and a random arrangement showed up. The film wear loss gradually decreases as the concentration of TiN additive in the bath increases from 2 g/L to 8 g/L, and a minimum loss of approximately 39.7 mg was obtained for the film deposited at 8 g/L TiN, which also displayed the maximum average micro-hardness (789.4 HV).