Silicon carbide reinforcement silver metal matrix nanocomposite coatings on copper by different electrodeposition methods and amount of silicon carbide

Silver is the most preferred materials metal between others in electronic and electrical industry because it has the highest electrical conductivity at room temperature. It has some intrinsic qualities such as great electrical and thermal conductivity. So, silver can be used for coating applications for electrical and electronic conductors. However, there are some weak properties for example low mechanical properties. Therefore, silver electrical contact materials can be reinforced by the second phase such as silicon carbide and carbon nanotube. In this study, silicon carbide has chosen as second phase for nanocomposite coating because of its unique mechanical and chemical properties. Unreinforced silver and various amounts of nano-sized silicon carbide reinforced silver metal matrix nanocomposite coatings were obtained by using electrodeposition technique to improve electrical properties. Different types of current which are direct current, pulse current and pulse reverse current were used. The influences of different types of current and various amount of nano-sized silicon carbide on the morphology, crystallographic orientation, mechanical and electrical properties were investigated with Scanning Electron Microscope, X-Ray Diffraction methods, Vickers's Micro Hardness test and electrical contact test respectively. Taking into account all of these, the best mechanical property was obtained with reinforced Silver by silicon carbide which were used 1 g/L amounts by pulse reverse current electrodeposition method. Also, the best electrical contact performance was obtained with reinforced by silicon carbide which were used 1 g/L amounts by direct current electrodeposition method.