High-temperature erosion and sliding wear of thermal sprayed WC–Cr₃C₂–Ni coatings

ABSTRACT

The present work focuses on high-temperature solid particle erosion and sliding wear behaviours of WC–Cr₃C₂–Ni coatings deposited by atmospheric plasma spray (APS) and high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) processes. The high-temperature erosion behaviour and the effects of temperature on the sliding wear performance of coated specimens were comparatively studied using an air-jet erosion tester and a ball-on-disc tribometer, respectively. Unidirectional dry sliding wear has been tested up to 800 °C, whereas the erosion tests were up to 650 °C. Interestingly, in a high-temperature sliding, the wear rates of both the coatings decreased after 500 °C due to the development of tribofilm. Furthermore, erosion resistance of both coatings was observed to be more prominent at 650 °C. HVOF coating offers higher erosion resistance than APS coating due to higher hardness, lower splat cohesion, lesser degree of decarburisation, and retained oxide layer. The HVOF-deposited WC–Cr₃C₂–Ni coating improves the high-temperature sliding wear and solid particle erosion resistance of the base material appreciably.

KEYWORDS:

• High-temperature
• erosion
• ceramics
• carbide
• coatings
• wear-resistant
• power generation

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Metallizing Equipment Pvt. Ltd., Jodhpur, India, for providing the coating facility. The authors also thank Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, India, for providing the test facility of high-temperature air-jet erosion tester. The authors are grateful to IIT Bombay, India, for providing the testing facilities such as SEM, EDX, XRD, nano-indentation and non-contact profilometer. The authors thank the Mechanical Engineering department at VJTI, Mumbai, for providing support in carrying out this work. This research work did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

STATEMENT

I hereby undertake that this paper “High-temperature erosion and sliding wear of thermal sprayed WC–Cr₃C₂–Ni coatings” submitted to this journal is original and contributed by myself. Research has been carried out at Mechanical Engineering Department, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Matunga, Mumbai, India.

Mr. Digvijay G. Bhosale

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).