The electrodeposition process parameters were optimized for the acquisition of high-strength monolithic nickel layers on Q235A substrates based on the Watts nickel plating solution using the DC electrodeposition method. Based on the study of the electrochemical polarization behavior of nickel ions in Watts’ plating solution, 16 experimental protocols were selected according to the orthogonal test method. The residual stress, microhardness, modulus of elasticity, and surface roughness of the nickel plating were tested by X-ray diffractometer, nano-mechanical test system, and surface profilometer, respectively, to investigate the influence of current density, temperature, and PH on the mechanical properties of nickel plating, so as to determine the best process solution for the preparation of high-strength nickel plating. The results of the study show that the mechanical properties of the nickel deposits electrodeposited onto Q235A are optimized when plating at a current density of 3 A/dm², a bath temperature of 45 °C, and a pH of 3.5. The nickel-plated layer has a minimum grain size of 34.8 nm, a microhardness of 3.86 GPa, a modulus of elasticity of 238 GPa, and a surface roughness Ra of 0.182 μm.

A nickel-nanodiamond composite coating was prepared on the surface of annealed 45 carbon steel by double-pulse electrodeposition. The effect of nanodiamond particle content on the surface morphology, grain size and wear and corrosion resistance of the composite coating were investigated. According to the analysis of the test results of X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy, it was found that the cathodic polarization of the electrodeposition process was enhanced after the addition of nanodiamond particles to the Watts nickel plating solution. The positively charged nanodiamond particles on the surface facilitate the reduction reaction at the cathode. Nanodiamond particles provide crystalline growth sites for the non-spontaneous nucleation of nickel atoms. As the addition of nanodiamond particles increases, the diffusely distributed nanodiamond particles are able to attract more nickel ions to deposit nuclei, and its fine crystallization effect increases, resulting in improved wear resistance and corrosion resistance of the composite plating. Among the results, the polarization potential was the smallest when the nanodiamond content in the plating solution was 10 g/L. The surface of the prepared nickel-nanodiamond composite coating was relatively flat and smooth, with good density and a uniform grain size distribution, and the content of element C on the surface of the composite coating was the largest, reaching 1.99%.

In this study, using 45# carbon steel as the substrate, a first experimental analysis was carried out on the polarisation behaviour of different component wattage plating solutions in order to determine the reasonable content of nanodiamond particles in a nickel/nanodiamond composite plating solution. Secondly, the effect of double-pulse forward and reverse duty cycle and reverse working time on the performance of nickel/nanodiamond composite plating was then investigated by testing the thickness, hardness and surface roughness of the composite plating and observing the surface micromorphology. The experimental results show that, when the content of nanodiamond particles in the plating solution is 5 g/L, the anti-pulse working time, forward and reverse pulse duty cycle of the double-pulse plating parameters are 20 ms, 0.3 and 0.2, respectively, and the composite plating layer prepared by double pulse has good comprehensive performance. This research work provides technical support for the optimisation of process parameters for the preparation of nickel/nanodiamond composite coatings by double-pulse electrodeposition.

Ni-based composite coating containing nanodiamonds was deposited on the substrate of Q235A low-carbon steel in a traditional Watts solution, without any additive. The nanodiamond grains prepared by detonation synthesis were measured by Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrochemical behavior of Ni²⁺ ion in the composite bath including nanodiamonds was studied by linear sweep voltammetry experiments, and the morphology, elastic modulus, and hardness of Ni-based composite coating were characterized using Scanning Electron microscope (SEM) and the nano-indenter XP tester. Effects of the nanodiamond concentration in the bath, stirring speed, and the electroplate mode on the properties of Ni-based composite coating were investigated. The results show that the reduction of Ni²⁺ ion in the electroplating process increased initially, and then decreased as the nanodiamond concentration in the bath increased from 4 g/L to 16 g/L, irrespective of whether direct current (DC), single-pulse, or double-pulse electroplating mode was used. The highest over-potential could be obtained when the nanodiamond concentration in the bath was 8 g/L. Moreover, the hardness and elastic modulus of the composite coating prepared by the DC electroplating mode were 4.68 and 194.30 GPa, respectively. By using the same plating parameters, the coating prepared by the double-pulse electroplating mode showed better properties, with hardness and elastic modulus values of 5.22 and 197.38 GPa, respectively.

Motivated by the potential applications of maintenance and inspection tasks for railway bridges, we have developed a biped climbing robot. The biped climbing robot can climb on the steel guardrail of the railway bridge with two electromagnetic feet and implement the maintenance and inspection tasks by a redundant manipulator with 7 degrees of freedom. To reduce the vibration of the manipulator caused by the low rigidity of the guardrail and the discontinuous trajectories of joints, a motion planning algorithm for vibration reduction is proposed in this paper. A geometric path accounting for obstacle avoidance and the manipulator’s center of gravity is determined by the gradient projection method with a singularity-robust inverse. Then, a piecewise quintic polynomial S shape curve with a smooth jerk (derivative of joint angular acceleration) profile is used to interpolate the sequence of joint angular position knots that are transformed from the via-points in the obstacle-avoidance path. The parameters of the quintic polynomial S-curve are determined by a nonlinear programming problem in which the objective function is to minimize the maximus of the torque exerted by the manipulator on the guardrail throughout the jerk-continuous trajectory. Finally, a series of simulation experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The simulation results show that the tracking errors of the trajectory with the proposed optimization algorithm are significantly smaller than the tracking errors of the trajectory without optimization. The absolute values of mean deviation of the tracking errors of the three coordinate axes decreased by at least 48.3% compared to the trajectory without vibration-reduction in the triangle working path and linear working path trajectory following simulations. The analysis results prove that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the vibration of the end effector of the manipulator.