Investigating the effect of sensitization and activation for electroless nickel plating on SiC ceramic powders

Investigating the effect of sensitization and activation for electroless nickel plating on SiC ceramic powders

SiC ceramic powders have high strength, hardness and chemical stability, and for this reason, they have been introduced as ideal reinforcing materials in metal-based composites. One of the problems of industrial application of SiC in the production of composite materials is its poor wettability by the melt of many metals. Among the many methods that are used today to solve this problem is electroless plating on the surface of SiC particles. Considering the importance of powder preparation steps, in this article, the effect of sensitization and activation in electroless nickel plating of SiC ceramic powder at temperatures of 75, 85 and 95 °C has been investigated. The results show that the highest amount of nickel coating on the surface of SiC particles was obtained at a temperature of 95 °C. The phase analysis of the coated SiC samples also show that in all three temperatures, in addition to the SiC phase, the Ni phase is also present, and the intensity of the Ni peaks increased with the increase in temperature.