Tribological properties of Ni-P-multi-walled carbon nanotubes electroless composite coating

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have super-strong mechanical characteristics and unique hollow nanotube structure and are believed as very ideal materials for fabricating the excellent composites. In this paper, tribological properties of Ni-P-CNTs composite coating prepared by electroless technique were investigated using a ring-on-block test rig. The results indicated that addition of CNTs would result in an increase in hardness of the composite coating. Due to reinforcement and reduced friction, the tribological properties of Ni-P-CNTs composite coating were greatly improved. The Ni-P-CNTs composite coating exhibited not only higher wear resistance but also lower friction coefficient than the Ni-P-SiC and Ni-P-graphite coatings. After treatment at 400 degreesC for 2 h, the wear resistance of the Ni-P-CNTs electroless composite coating improved because of the Ni3P precipitation in Ni-matrix. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.