High Hardness Nickel - Carbon Nanotubes Composite Electroplating

In this paper we present some results on making Ni/CNTs composite by electroplating technique. The work aims to create an advanced nano-composite coating surfaces by taking superior mechanical properties of the CNTs. The Watts solution was used for nickel plating experiments. We utilized two different methods to disperse CNTs in the Watts solution. In the first method, CNTs were mixed in the Watts solution by ultrasonication. In the second one, the CNTs were chemically functionalized by using diazo coupling reaction in sulfanilic acid (NH2C6H4SO3H) and nitrous acid (HNO2) before mixing in the Watts solution. In order to investigate the role of CNTs additives in coating, nickel was plated onto copper substrates with and without CNTs additives. The Vickers hardness of coatings was measured by Shimadzu Micro Hardness Tester.