Abstract: The effects of pulse frequency f and duty cycle r on the deposition rate, composition, morphology, and hardness of pulse electrodeposited RE (rare earth)-Ni-W-P-SiC composite coatings have been studied. The results indicate that pulse current can improve the deposition rate of RE-Ni-W-P-SiC composite coatings; W, P, and SiC contents in the coating decrease with the increase of pulse frequency and reach the lowest value at f = 33Hz, whereas the RE content in the composite coatings increases with increasing pulse frequency. SiC content decreases with the increase of duty cycle, W content reaches the lowest value, and P content reaches the highest value at r = 0.4; pulse current and RE can lead to smaller size of the crystalline grains; however, the effects of different pulse frequency and duty cycle on the morphologies of RE-Ni-W-P-SiC composite coatings are not obvious. The hardness of RE-Ni-W-P-SiC composite coatings is the highest when the duty cycle is at 0.6 and 0.8 and pulse frequency is at 50Hz. At the same pulse frequency, the hardness of RE-Ni-W-P-SiC composite coatings at r = 0.8 is higher than that at r = 0.6.

Key words: pulse frequency, duty cycle, electrodeposition