Nanohardness measurements of ML (Ni) at 5N sliding show similar levels of hardness to those seen in ML (Cu)suggesting that the engrained nickel layer does not impart a mechanical improvement to the ML (Ni) coating. In the first 100 revs of sliding, the hardness of the coating was higher (~ 3 GPa, as a consequence of indentation into discreet nickel grains), before reduction to ~ 2.34 GPa at 400 revs as the nickel is mechanically alloyed onto the surface of the copper coating. This is in contrast to the evaluation of previous Ni/Cu multilayer approaches, which indicate that the dominant mechanism of improvement is by mechanical reinforcing of the tribologically-active surfaces. Values of H increase up to 3.39