Electroless Deposition of Ni-P Coatings on HNBR for Low Friction Rubber Seals

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2020

Authors

C. Fonseca (Author) FEUP; Beatriz Vasconcelos (Author) FEUP; João Carlos Oliveira (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Coatings

Vol. 10

Pages: 1-18

ISSN: 2079-6412

Publisher: MDPI

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 4 Citations

Scopus - 5 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00T-7TJ

DOI: 10.3390/coatings10121237

Abstract (EN): This paper reports a simple and cost-effective procedure to coat hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) with a well-adherent Ni-P film by using the electroless plating method. A HNBR surface functionalization process was first optimized, creating an interpenetrating network with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). Silver nanoparticles were deposited on PVP and acted as catalysts for the Ni-P film deposition, eliminating the expensive tin-palladium sensitization/activation step. A homogeneous, low phosphorous Ni-P film was obtained after 60-120 min of plating in an alkaline bath, with an average thickness of 3 to 10 mu m, respectively. The PVP internetwork played an important role on the strong adhesion of the film, 1.0 +/- 0.5 MPa. The tribological behavior of Ni-P-plated HNBR samples was studied for 1, 5 and 10 N applied loads under dry sliding on a pin-on-disc configuration and the coefficient of friction (CoF) was reduced by similar to 30-49%, compared to uncoated HNBR (loads 1-5N). Based on these results, Ni-P-coated rubber can be regarded as a novel solution for enhancement of the tribological behavior of dynamic seals; it can be regarded as a means to avoid machinery failure. This method offers an alternative to the diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 18