Effect of PTFE on characteristics, corrosion, and tribological behavior of Zn-Ni electrodeposits

Zn-Ni and Zn-Ni/PTFE coatings were produced by the electrodeposition technique. The effect of PTFE particles concentration on co-deposition of these particles was investigated. Morphology of Zn-Ni and Zn-Ni/PTFE coatings along with their corrosion and tribological behavior were studied. The results showed that maximum incorporation of PTFE particles was obtained in the presence of 30 g l^-1 of these particles in the bath. Clusters of cauliflower-like morphology of Zn-Ni film became coarser by the incorporation of PTFE particles. Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results revealed that Zn-14Ni film had the best corrosion resistance between all the samples. The corrosion resistance of the alloy film was decreased by the incorporation of PTFE particles. However, Zn-Ni/PTFE film had higher corrosion resistance than the steel substrate. According to hardness and wear results, while Zn-14Ni film had the highest hardness between all the samples, Zn-Ni/PTFE film had the lowest volume loss and friction coefficient.