Investigation into Ultrasonic Oscillation-Assisted Nickel Electroplating onto a Diamond Surface

Abstract

At present, there are some challenging issues for diamond electroplating devices, such as poor particle–cathode contact uniformity, low conductivity, inefficient deposition, and complex disassembly/cleaning process of the device. To overcome these issues, an ultrasonic oscillation-assisted nickel electroplating device is innovatively designed and presented in this paper. The device features: (1) innovative architecture enabling rapid disassembly; (2) ultrasonic enhancement of diamond particle mobility (frequency × amplitude); (3) optimized electrical contact interfaces. In this paper, the effects of electroplating current, output power of ultrasonic oscillator and diamond particle size on nickel electroplating onto diamond surface are further studied particularly by ultrasonic assisted electroplating. The experimental results show that the ultrasonic oscillation assisted electroplating greatly improves the uniformity of the coating on the diamond surface and effectively prevents the adhesion between diamond particles. While the process parameters are electroplating current of 3 A, output power of ultrasonic oscillator 900 W, diamond particle size of 120/140, the weight-gain rate is 20.6%, the nickel content of the coating reaches 81.95%, and the coating is excellent uniformed without agglomeration. The research presented provides fundamental understanding for further development and application of ultrasonic oscillation-assisted electroplating technology particularly for broad precision engineering purposes.