Characterizations of the mechanical properties and wear behavior of Ni plate fabricated by the electroforming process

We fabricated, the Ni plate by electroforming process and evaluated the microstructure, mechanical properties and wear behavior of the Ni plate. Specifically, the effects of addition of wetting agents, SF 1 and SF 2 solutions, on the microstructure and properties were investigated. The microstructure and surface morphology were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively, and friction coefficient was measured by the ball-on-disk method. We found that the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ni plate were changed with kind and amount of wetting agents used. The hardness and tensile strength of Ni plate formed without wetting agents was 228 Hv and 660.7 MPa, respectively, whiled when wetting agent was added, those were improved to be 739 Hv and 1286.3 MPa. These improvements were probably due to the finer grain size and less crystallization of Ni. In addition, when both wetting agents were added, the friction coefficient was reduced from 0.73 to 0.67 which is partially caused by the improved hardness and smooth surface.