Electrodeposition of Zn–TiO2 coating

What is it about?

Because of the need for protection of steel components with coatings with high mechanical and tribological properties such as hardness and wear resistance along with corrosion resistance, we codeposited titania reinforcement particles with zinc on plain carbon steel substrates, and studied the effects of bath temperature, stirring rate of electrodeposition solution and concentration of titania in bath on the morphological, mechanical and tribological properties, and found the optimized values of these parameters to have the highest titania concentrations along with lowest friction coefficient and mass reduction in the wear test. The mechanisms that these parameters influenced the coating properties were discussed.

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Photo by Kayle Kaupanger on Unsplash

Photo by Kayle Kaupanger on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Interests on desirable mechanical and tribological properties and great corrosion resistance of composite coatings have been increased. In fact, resistance of zinc against corrosion has made scholars use it as a coating for steel parts for industrial purposes. Therefore, it is reasonable to develop a composite coating with zinc matrix. Compared to high temperature methods such as pyrometallurgy and powder metallurgy, control of the microstructure and composition is more convenient in electrodeposition process. Moreover, ceramic particles have high modulus of elasticity and self-lubrication properties and can elevate mechanical properties like wear resistance. In the meantime, semiconductive property of TiO2 makes it applicable as a photo catalyzer for the filtration of contaminated water. In this work, nanosized TiO2 particles codeposited with zinc on plain carbon steel substrate. Optimum degrees of temperature, stirring rate and particle concentration obtained in electrodeposition bath; hardness and wear resistance of the composite coatings was significantly increased using titania as reinforcement in the matrix. Mechanisms which the studied parameters influence the coating properties were discussed.