DRY SLIDING WEAR AND FRICTION BEHAVIOR OF Ni–P–ZrO₂–Al₂O₃COMPOSITE ELECTROLESS COATINGS ON ALUMINUM

Abstract

In the present study, dry sliding wear behavior of a newly developed electroless coating, prepared by in-situ co-precipitation of X and its co-deposition, has been investigated both as-coated and heat treated, at different loads on a pin-on-disc wear monitor with constant sliding speed. The cumulative volume loss for increasing sliding distance is observed to be linear and variation in wear rate has been found to increase linearly with normal load following Archard's law. As-coated and heat-treated samples showed significantly better wear performance than that of the substrate aluminum (AS) in terms of the wear rate, which was also found to be influenced by substrate hardness. The friction coefficient decreases with increasing normal load for both the un-coated and coated aluminum. However, relatively higher values of friction coefficient has been observed for coated and heat-treated samples compared to that for the substrate.