Fabrication of a nanocrystalline Ni-Co/CoO functionally graded layer with excellent electrochemical corrosion and tribological performance.

Nanocrystalline (NC) Ni-Co/CoO functionally graded materials with excellent lubricating, high anti-corrosion and anti-wear performance were fabricated by electrodeposition and subsequent cyclic thermal oxidation and quenching. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy investigations show that bulk Ni-Co gradient deposits with an average grain size in the range of 13-40 nm demonstrated a graded structure transition from face-centred cubic to hexagonal close packed and graded composition changes from Ni-rich to Co-rich regions with the increase in deposit thickness. X-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis indicated the surface layer of NC Ni-Co graded materials to be mainly composed of dense and ultrafine CoO with a (111) preferred orientation. The NC Ni-Co/CoO functionally graded materials exhibited significantly enhanced corrosion resistance in both NaOH and NaCl solutions and remarkably improved wear resistance and dry self-lubricating performance when compared with the NC Ni and Ni-Co graded deposits under dry sliding wear conditions. The higher corrosion and tribological performance of NC Ni-Co/CoO graded materials can be attributed to the graded microstructure within the deposits, the anti-corrosion barrier of a dense oxide layer and the solid lubrication effect of CoO-rich tribo-surface films.