The corrosion resistance of nickel–titanium nitride (Ni/TiN) composites is significantly influenced by the operation parameters during the jet pulse electrodeposition (JPE) process. The effect of current density, jet rate, TiN concentration, and duty cycle impact on the anti-corrosion property of Ni/TiN composites were investigated and optimized using the response surface method (RSM). After the optimization of the operation parameters, the corrosion current of Ni/TiN composites decreased from 9.52 × 10⁻⁵ A/cm² to 4.63 × 10⁻⁵ A/cm². The corrosion current of Ni/TiN composites decreased initially and then increased with an increase in current density, jet rate, TiN concentration, and duty cycle. During the jet electrodeposition process, the influence of the duty cycle on the corrosion current of Ni/TiN composites was comparatively insignificant, whereas the concentration of TiN had a significant effect on the corrosion current. The error rate between the predicted value and the measured result from the corrosion current of Ni/TiN composites was only 0.64%, indicating the high accuracy of fitting the model. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images revealed that the optimized Ni/TiN composites comprised significant Ti content, fine nickel gain, and a compact, smooth structure. In addition, the electrochemical measured results demonstrated that the optimized Ni/TiN composites possessed a low self-corrosion current and high self-corrosion potential. These findings show that the optimized composites have a substantially greater corrosion resistance compared to two other unoptimized Ni/TiN composites.

At present, the improvement of anti-wear performance of piston rings remains a challenge. In this article, Ni-SiC composite coatings fabricated at 3, 9, and 15 g/L SiC were denoted as NSc-3, NSc-9, and NSc-15 coatings. Meanwhile, the influence of SiC concentration on the surface morphology, phase structure, microhardness, and anti-wear performance of electrodeposited Ni-SiC composite coatings were investigated utilizing scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, a microhardness tester, and a friction–wear tester, respectively. The SEM images presented NSc-9 coatings with a compact, flat, or cauliflower-like surface morphology. The cross-sectional morphology and EDS results showed that the Si and Ni elements were uniformly distributed in the NSc-9 coatings with dense and flat microstructures. Moreover, the average grain size of the NSc-9 coatings was only 429 nm. Furthermore, the microhardness and indentation path of the NSc-9 coatings were 672 Hv and 13.7 μm, respectively. Also, the average friction coefficient and worn weight loss of the NSc-9 coatings were 0.46 and 29.5 mg, respectively, which were lower than those of the NSc-3 and NSc-15 coatings. In addition, a few shallow scratches emerged on the worn surfaces of the NSc-9 coatings, demonstrating their outstanding anti-wear performance when compared to the NSc-3 and NSc-15 coatings.