Effect of electroless nickel interlayer on the fatigue strength of chromium electroplated AISI 4340 steel

Abstract Deposition of wear-resistant hard chromium plating leads to a decrease in the fatigue strength of the base material. Despite the effective protection against wear and corrosion, fatigue life and environmental requirements result in pressure to identify alternatives or to improve conventional chromium electroplating mechanical characteristics. An interesting, environmentally safer and cleaner alternative for the replacement of hard chrome plating is tungsten carbide thermal spray coating, applied by high velocity oxyfuel (HVOF) process. To improve the fatigue strength of aeronautical steel chromium electroplated, shot peening is a successfully used method. Multiple layer systems of coatings are considered to have larger resistance to crack propagation in comparison with simple layer. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of nickel underplate on the fatigue strength of hard chromium plated AISI 4340 steel in two mechanical conditions: HRc 39 and HRc 52. Rotating bending fatigue tests results indicate that the electroless nickel plating underlayer is responsible for the increase in fatigue strength of AISI 4340 steel chromium electroplated. This behavior may be attributed to the largest toughness/ductility and compressive residual stresses which, probably, arrested or delayed the microcrack propagation from the hard chromium external layer. The compressive residual stress field (CRSF) induced by the electroplating process was determined by X-ray diffraction method. The evolution of fatigue strength compressive residual stress field CRSF and crack sources are discussed and analyzed by SEM.