Interface behaviour in nickel composite coatings with nano-particles of oxidic ceramic

Advances in micro-technology demand that new functional materials be developed so that the technical properties of micro-devices can be improved at reasonable cost. The co-deposition of nanoscaled particles during an electroplating process has been shown to bring such an improvement. This work focuses on particles of oxidic ceramics, in this case those of Al2O3 and TiO2. The diameters of the primary particles ranges from 10 to 30 nm, electrodeposited by means of a conventional Watts nickel electrolyte. A series of nickel nano-ceramic composites were produced, with co-deposition of particles as a single primary particle in the nanometre range at one end of the scale and as agglomerates up to a size of a micrometer at the other. The influence of the presence of particles on crystallisation behaviour, residual stress and texture of the deposited nickel coatings was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). There is a report on the interfaces between the nickel grains and the oxidic ceramic particles, investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A decreasing corrosion stability indicates an attack along the interface nickel/particles.