Experimental Investigations on Micro Hardness and Surface Morphology of Zn–TiO₂ Nano Particle Coating on Mild Steel

The present study investigates ZnTiO₂ coating on mild steel specimen using electro deposition technique. The specimen’s surface morphologies were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Micro hardness of coated specimens are measured using Vickers Micro Hardness. Surface roughness of coated specimen is measured using Non-contact Profilometer. Taguchi approach is used to conduct the experimental trials with least number of experiments to examine the influence of process parameters such as voltage, speed and time on Surface roughness and Micro hardness on electrodeposited specimen with ZnTiO₂. Experiments were designed using L27 array to study the significant effect of process parameters on the performance of coated surface and to rank the process parameters. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test and S/N ratio analysis is used to evaluate the influence of process parameters on the ZnTiO₂ coated specimens. Experimental results depicts that performance of coating process is primarily influenced by voltage and speed of the deposition compared to coating time.