B. Bozzini et al., AN INVESTIGATION INTO MICROSTRUCTURE AND PARTICLE DISTRIBUTION OF NI-P DIAMOND COMPOSITE THIN-FILMS/, Journal of Microscopy, 185, 1997, pp. 283-291
The present paper deals with a theoretical and experimental study of t
he co-deposition of spheroidal particles in a metal matrix deposited b
y autocatalytic chemical deposition (ACD), The 3-D particle size distr
ibution - as measured by image analysis of SEM micrographs of metallog
raphic cross-sections - is related to the size distribution of the sta
rting powder - as measured by photon autocorrelation spectroscopy - th
rough a simple analytical model, The application of the model to the c
o-deposition of diamond particles in an ACD Ni-P (9 wt.% P) amorphous
matrix led to a correct prediction of average volume of embedded parti
cles ((V) over bar), coverage factor (C-F) and number of co-deposited
particles per unit volume of deposit (N-V).