Nickel silicon carbide is an exceptional material with incredible properties, such as its four times higher hardness compared to both nitrided steel and diamonds.
Composite coatings combining mid-phosphorous electroless nickel with microscopic silicon carbide particles offer increased hardness and extended protective capabilities.
1. Extremely Hard
Silicon carbide (SiC) is one of the hardest materials known to mankind, rivaling diamond in terms of hardness. Resembling its hard diamond counterpart in terms of wear resistance and resistance to abrasion resistance. Furthermore, SiC can also serve as a super conductor of electricity and can be doped n-type or p-type depending on its use; doping possibilities include nitrogen or phosphorus doping as well as aluminium, beryllium or boron doping options.
Crushed carborundum can be so hard that it is used as an abrasive in modern lapidary, the art of gem cutting and polishing. Furthermore, carborundum printmaking uses it applied as a paste onto an aluminium plate before being engraved by pointed tools to produce printed marks.
Chemical nickel – silicon carbide plating (nickelsiconcarbide plating) is an electroless nickel coating with 20-30% silicon carbide particles added as a special additive, to provide superior abrasion and corrosion resistance while meeting requirements of diamond honing to achieve precise dimensions and surface finish requirements. This plating technique is often found on bores of internal combustion engines for piston applications where sliding wear may be an issue.
2. Extremely Corrosion Resistant
Nickel plating involves depositing microscopic particles of silicon carbide alongside nickel, producing a composite coating of mid-phosphorus electroless nickel (similar to hard chrome) and superhard silicon carbide granules.
NiSiC is one of the strongest, hardest, and wear-resistent materials on Earth, providing incredible strength, wear resistance and corrosion protection from aggressive chemicals – an attribute especially useful when used for heavy slurry applications or exposed to highly acidic pumping fluids.
TWR’s NickaSil coating combines high corrosion resistance, lubricity and superhard silicon carbide in an advanced matrix for maximum restoration capabilities of damaged pistons/cylinder bores to their original condition. It is an ideal coating solution for overbored/scuffed/overbored or slightly worn-down cylinder bores/pistons which need to be restored back to their original spec.
Corrosion of ceramics typically results from chemical interactions between different surface materials of the bulk substrate, and chemically different surface layers on that bulk substrate. In the case of silicon carbide and silicon nitride substrates, this often takes the form of oxygen-rich oxide scale reacting with silicon nitride via an exothermic process called parabolic kinetic mechanism.
3. Extremely Low Friction
Nickel silicon carbide is the premier wear-resistant coating. It reduces friction more effectively than aluminum and can better withstand corrosion from salt spray than many similar coatings.
Silicon carbide is an ultrahard material that comes close to matching diamond in terms of hardness. Additionally, its oleophilic nature attracts and encourages engine oil to adhere to its surface – greatly reducing parasitic friction in modern engines from piston-to-cylinder wall interface friction.
Electroless nickel plating involves depositing microscopic particles of superhard SiC into a matrix of nickel to form an extremely durable anti-wear coating that provides outstanding corrosion protection.
NiSiC is used by companies manufacturing machinery and equipment for chemical, aerospace, automotive and other industries to increase product durability. Additionally, it’s often used to repair industrial equipment damaged by abrasion, impact or corrosion; and is even utilized in high-end applications like space telescopes due to its low thermal expansion and high rigidity characteristics. With hardness, heat resistance and corrosion resistance characteristics all wrapped into one, NiSiC makes an excellent material choice for aircraft mechanical components, rockets, cars and other vehicles.
4. High Thermal Conductivity
Silicon carbide (SiC) is an extremely hard material used for both abrasives and corrosion protection, such as corrosion-proof plating or heating protection. At TWR Service Corporation, mid-phosphorus electroless nickel plating embedded with SiC particles creates an extremely wear and abrasion-resistant coating for piston engine cylinder liners.
Thermal management in power electronics and optoelectronics devices presents a key challenge, due to localized heat flux causing high device temperatures5. As SiC with high thermal conductivity (k) improves both their performance and longevity6, thermal management becomes an imperative.
SiC is well known for its superior thermal conductivity. Furthermore, this material exhibits wide-band semiconductor properties which enable electrons to easily jump into its conduction band – thus making it a highly reliable electrical conductor. But in contrast with its expected value, 3C-SiC reported in literature has an unexpectedly lower intrinsic k than expected1.9. One possibility could be exceptionally strong boron defect-phonon scattering1,9. Authors studied the influence of composition and surface morphology on thermal conductivity of ANF-based SiC composites by performing TGA, TDS, tensile test and X-ray diffraction analyses. Results indicate that as weight fraction of composite thermal fillers increases so does their coefficient (k).
5. Long Coating Life
Silicon Carbide, commonly referred to by its tradename Nikasil or Carborundum, is one of the hardest materials on Earth and often found in applications with high wear and corrosion conditions such as engine parts, brakes and bulletproof vests. Furthermore, this material offers excellent rigidity and thermal conductivity which make it suitable for space telescope mirrors.
Popularly used as an abrasive, this material comes in two polymorphs: alpha with hexagonal crystal structure resembling Wurtzite; and beta, with zinc blende crystal structure similar to diamond. Both versions are extremely hard and chemically stable while possessing excellent thermal conductivity properties; both forms also help electronic devices resist extreme temperatures and voltages such as LEDs; in addition to this it can also be cut into gems known as moissanite for cutting into gems.
TWR Service Corporation offers an innovative Ni-SiC composite coating made up of mid-phosphorus electroless nickel embedded with microscopic silicon carbide particles in uniform distribution, creating an extremely dense, smooth and wear-resistant wear-resistance and corrosion-resistance layer on substrates. The nickel-silicon carbide deposit creates an improved corrosion, oxidation resistance and plating stability even after multiple cycles at high current density current density. This material also features excellent durability than its pure nickel equivalents, with significantly enhanced corrosion resistance.
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