Graphene/Ni composite coating for enhanced strength of Ni surface

LR Safina and KA Krylova and RT Murzaev and SA Shcherbinin and JA Baimova, SURFACES AND INTERFACES, 53, 105011 (2024).

DOI: 10.1016/j.surfin.2024.105011

The rapid development of technology, industry and aerospace manufacturing requires the search for new materials with high strength, low weight and corrosion resistance. Graphene-based composites exhibit impressing mechanical, physical and tribological properties and can be used to enhance the strength of metal surfaces as protective coatings. In this study, graphene/Ni composite nanocoating is used to improve the mechanical properties of Ni single crystal. The composite nanocoating, obtained by high temperature hydrostatic compression, is a graphene network filled with Ni nanoparticles. Molecular dynamics is used to study the mechanical properties and microstructure of Ni single crystal with different composite nanocoating thicknesses (1.0, 1.5, 1.8, 2.4, 3.5 and 5.1 nm). As the thickness of the composite nanocoating increases, the yield strength, tensile strength and Young's modulus increase while the ductility decreases. The strength of the composite coated Ni was determined by the nanocoating strength and dislocation strengthening of Ni, while the ductility was mainly affected by the yielding of Ni. Microstructural analysis showed that Ni strengthening was controlled by dislocation nucleation in the early stages of deformation. Failure of Ni single crystal with a composite coating under uniaxial tension starts from the fracture of the composite coating, which is independent of the thickness of the graphene/Ni coating. The graphene/Ni composite nanocoating was found to be a promising strengthening and protective material for metal surfaces. By varying the thickness of the nanocoating, it is possible to obtain a material with the required strength and ductility. At a composite coating thickness of 1 nm, the ductility was comparable to that of Ni, and at a coating thickness of 5 nm, the strength approached that of a pure graphene/Ni composite.

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