The study of electroless deposition of nickel on graphite fibers

An electroless deposition technique was developed to coat nickel on graphite fibers with high nickel deposition rate and bath stability. The effect of chemical composition of the coating bath on nickel deposition rate was also studied. It was found practicable to coat a uniform and continuous nickel layer on graphite fiber surface by this technique. The coating rate was controlled mainly by the concentration of HCHO and NaOH, and the stability of the coating bath, potassium sodium tartrate. Tensile strength tests showed that the ultimate tensile strength of coated fibers was a little less than that of uncoated ones. In addition, the nickel coated graphite fibers were successively incorporated into aluminum matrix by pressure infiltration route, and the microstructure of the resulted composite had uniform distribution of the coated fibers without appreciable interfacial reactions between fiber and the aluminum matrix. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved