Titanium diboride (TiB2) reinforced silver (Ag) based nanocomposite coatings by electrodeposition method

Silver is one of the most used materials in electrical industry due to its excellent electrical and thermal conductivity properties and it is frequently used as electrical contact material. However, silver's low mechanical strength has prompted researchers to produce different electrical contact materials. Many studies have been carried out by reinforcing a different material into silver (adding a second phase). In this study, titanium diboride reinforced silver based nanocomposite coatings are produced in order to obtain a new generation contact material with longer service life, economical, safer, environmentally friendly and most importantly, good contact performance. Titanium diboride is a promising material for electrical contacts with its excellent features such as high hardness, high melting temperature, low density, low electrical resistivity, good thermal conductivity. In this study, unreinforced silver and titanium diboride reinforced silver based nanocomposite coatings produced by electrodeposition technique with using direct current, pulse current and pulse reverse current methods on copper substrates. Firstly, nanocomposite coatings were produced with the addition of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 gram/Liter titanium diboride into electrolyte and effects of reinforcement with different amounts in silver matrix were analyzed. 1.0 gram/Liter titanium diboride reinforced silver based nanocomposite coatings were also produced with using direct current, pulse current and pulse current methods. All coatings were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscope, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction Analysis, Vickers Microhardness Test, Electrical Resistivity Measurements, Cross-Sectional Analysis, Electrical Contact Performance Test and Corrosion Resistance Tests.