Anti-corrosion and Wear Properties of Binary Ni–P/Cow Horn Particulate Composite Coatings on Mild Steel via Electroless Method

The quest for novel, cheap, eco-friendly, and readily available composite coatings with improved corrosion and wear properties are the reasons for this research. This work studied the effect of cow horn particles (CHp) inclusion on the corrosion and wear properties of electroless Ni–P coatings on mild steel. The surface properties of the coatings were studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The microstructural studies indicate grain filling and reduced porosity as a result of CHp incorporation. Linear polarization studies indicate a slight increase in the corrosion resistance with Ni–P/10 g CHp having the best corrosion resistance. A significant improvement in the wear resistance was observed for the composite coatings with the wear rate of the composite coating as low as 2.4 g/m in comparison to the wear rates of Ni–P and the unplated samples which are 2.9 g/m and 7.8 g/m, respectively. Also, CHp incorporation improved the self-lubricity of the composite coatings as the composite coatings with 10 g CHp possessed the least coefficient of friction value of 0.017. The results indicate that Ni–P/CHp composite coatings possess good wear and corrosion resistance and can be employed in engineering applications.