Performances of Silicon and Silicon Carbide Reinforced Nickel Electrodeposited Coatings Against Oxidation of Xc100 Carbon Steels Exposed to Butane/Propane Combustion in the Open Air

Abstract

The protection of XC100 steel against oxidation due to butane/propane combustion by the mean of nickel (Ni), Nickel-Silicon (Ni-Si), and Nickel-Silicon carbide (Ni-SiC) electrodeposited coatings is reported. Gravimetric and microstructural characterizations of coatings after direct exposure to the gas flame were conducted. The results show that Ni-SiC coating improves the protection against oxidation of the underlying steel XC100 by decreasing the rate of weight gain by about 20 times against 13 times for Ni due to the decomposition of SiC particles in the boundaries of the coaxial grains network. Besides, the preferential oxidation of silicon particles to SiO2 into the nickel matrix revealed by EDS-X analysis confers stability to Ni-Si coating although its catching of mass is slightly higher than that of Ni-SiC. The charge transfer resistance Rct and the oxide electrical resistance Roxide extracted from Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy agreed with gravimetric and microstructural observations.