Incorporation of nano zinc oxide for improvement of electroless nickel plating

The advantages of electroless nickel plating (EN) include excellent corrosion resistance, wear resistance, solderability, low porosity and uniform thickness even on complex parts and ability to plate on nonconductors. In the present study nano ZnO particles were synthesized by using an electrochemical technique and incorporated the particles into Ni–P plates. An alkaline bath was selected and used for nano zinc oxide incorporation. The electrochemical and metallurgical properties of the Ni–nano ZnO–P plates were evaluated and compared with that of the unreinforced Ni–P plates. The incorporation of the nano ZnO particles resulted in improvement of metallurgical and corrosion resistance characteristics of the plates.