Effect of heat treatment on microhardness of electroless Ni-YSZ cermet coating

The paper discussed the effect of heat treatment on electroless nickel-yttria-stabilised zirconia (Ni-YSZ) cermet coating. Ni-YSZ cermet coating has potential applications such as cutting tools, thermal barriers, solid oxide fuel anode, and various others. The compatibility of ceramic YSZ and metallic nickel in terms of the mechanical properties such as hardness by varying the heating temperature, time and ceramic particle size is highlighted. Ni-YSZ cermet coating was deposited onto a high-speed steel substrate using the electroless nickel co-deposition method. The temperature and time were varied in a range of 300-400°C and 1-2 hours, respectively. The microhardness measurements were carried out using a Vickers microhardness tester (Shimadzu) according to ISO 6507-4. The surface characterisation of the cermet coating was carried out using JOEL Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) JSM 7800F. The crystallographic structure of materials was analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) Bruker D8 Advance instrument. It was found that the microhardness of Ni-YSZ cermet coating with the ratio of 70:30, respectively, is directly proportional to the heating temperature and time. Heating the Ni-YSZ cermet coating at 300°C from room temperature (rtp) to 1 hour shows a 12% microhardness increment, while from 1 to 2 hours gives a 19% increment. Compared to heating at 350°C and 400°C, the increment is more significant at 33% and 49% for rtp to 1 hour and 8% and 16% for 1 to 2 hours, respectively. In addition, the effect of varying YSZ particle size in the Ni-YSZ cermet gave response differently for heating temperature and heating time. The paper is only limited to the discussion of the heat treatment effect on Ni-YSZ cermet coating hardness property. The tribological effect will be in future work. The microhardness data may vary due to the Vickers microhardness force applied and the amount of ceramic particle incorporation and phosphorus content in the nickel matrix. The value of this work is the compatibility of the ceramic YSZ and metallic nickel matrix in terms of mechanical properties, such as hardness, upon heat treatment.