Duplex Ni–P–ZrO2/Ni–P electroless coating on stainless steel

• A novel duplex Ni–P–ZrO2/Ni–P coating was electroless deposited onto stainless steel substrates.
• The duplex coating possesses both excellent mechanical property and good corrosion resistance.
• This novel duplex coating may find broad applications after further chemical modification.

Duplex Ni–P–ZrO2/Ni–P coating was electroless deposited onto stainless steel substrates. High phosphorus Ni–P coating was plated as the inner layer to improve the corrosion resistance and low phosphorus sol-enhanced Ni–P–ZrO2 coating was on the top to strengthen the mechanical property. The microstructure, mechanical property, corrosion resistance and hydrophobic property of coating were investigated systematically. The results show that this novel duplex coating possesses both excellent mechanical property and good corrosion resistance. The microhardness was further improved from ∼648 HV100 of Ni–P/Ni–P coating to ∼752 HV100 of Ni–P–ZrO2/ Ni–P coating, while the hardness of stainless steel is below 200 HV100. The duplex coatings have very good corrosion resistance due to the different corrosion mechanism compared with the single Ni–P coating. This duplex coating also shows hydrophobic property.