WEAR PERFORMANCE AND MECHANISMS OF EN COATING UNDER RECIPROCATING SLIDING CONDITIONS

Electroless nickel (EN) coatings are commonly used as an engineering coating for protecting components from corrosion and wear. In the present work, EN was applied to a mild steel substrate and its wear performance under dry as well as lubricated conditions was evaluated for reciprocating sliding wear. A sliding pin made from nodular cast iron was used as the mating surface. In order to assess the wear mechanisms involved in the process, both optical and scanning electron microscopy were utilized to study the wear surface and the debris. The results indicate that the EN coating performed very well under lubricated conditions. In dry tests, extensive adhesion and material transfer was observed. Scanning electron micrographs have been interpreted to analyse various wear mechanisms operating under different loading conditions.