A REVIEW PAPER ON HARDFACING * Vineet Shibe, 1 Vikas Chawla * Ph.D. Research Scholar, Deptt. of Mech. Engg., Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, India. 2 Bhai Maha Singh College of Engineering, Muktsar, Punjab, India. shibevineet@gmail.com, vikkydmt@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Wear is a process of removal of material from one or both of two solid surfaces in solid state contact, occurring when two solid surfaces are in sliding or rolling motion together. Different modes of wear are abrasion, impact, metallic, heat, corrosion etc. Mostly the worn out components fail due to combination of modes of wear, such as abrasion and impact etc. Wear can be reduced either in the form of using a new wear resistant material or by improving the wear resistance of the existing material by addition of any wear resistant alloying element etc. Many methods to reduce wear are in practice. In the last years hardfacing processes have been developed and used for most of the wear resistant applications. Research is carried out for studying the wear characterization, as the basic aim of hardfacing is to improve or extend the life of various components used across the industry owing to the high cost of replacement of original part. In this paper an attempt has been made to review few hardfacing processes, base materials used, the current research being done and the advantages of hardfacing.
Degradation of materials by wear results in very high losses in several industries such as agricultural, automobiles, constructional, metal working etc. Individuals and industry tend to focus on the wearing surface that has the greatest impact on their own economic situation. Wear is a surface phenomenon and occurs mostly at outer surfaces. Every part that is moving in service will be subject to wear at the contact point with other parts. The consequence of this wear is that the parts need to be replaced, which costs money and causes downtime on the equipment. Common Methods to control wear are hardfacing, use of surface coatings and lubrication. Hardfacing is the application of build-up of deposits of specialized alloys by means of welding process to resist abrasion, corrosion, high temperature, or impact. Surface coating may be defined as a layer of material, formed naturally or deposited artificially on the surface of an object made of another material, with an aim of obtaining required technical or decorative properties. Lubrication is done to separate the sliding/mating surfaces with a lubricating film. Surface Engineering is defined as the branch of science that deals with methods for achieving the desired surface requirements and their behavior in service for engineering components. The surface characteristics of engineering materials have a significant effect on the serviceability and life of a component thus cannot be neglected in design. Hardfacing is a surface modification technique used to rebuild the surface of a work piece and is the most common process to improve the wear resistance of the components. It is a technique in which a superior material is deposited on the substrate having a sufficient mechanical strength but of less cost and to achieve the desired properties in an economical way. Such an alloy may be deposited on the surface, an edge, or merely the point of a part subject to wear. Welding is a key technology to fulfil these requirements and to apply hardfacing alloys [1]. Hardfacing may be applied to a new part during its production, or it may be used to restore a worn-down surface. Hard-facing increases the service life of a part and there by extend the lifetime of machinery equipment efficiently [1]. In the last years hardfacing became an issue of intense development related to wear resistant applications. Economic success of this process depends on selective application of hardfacing material & its chemical composition.
2. Welding Processes Used for Hardfacing
The different welding processes used for hardfacing are Arc Welding, Gas Welding, combination of Arc and Gas Welding, etc. Mostly MMAW process is used for hardfacing because it is the most common and versatile process. It has low cost of equipment, portable, inexpensive; flexible in use, ideal for repair and all position welding can be performed easily. The different welding processes used for Hardfacing can be classified as under: International Conference on Advancements and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (October 5-7, 2012)
Hardfacing by Arc Welding Shielded Metal Arc Welding [2], Flux Cored Arc Welding [3], Submerged Arc Welding [4].
Hardfacing by Gas Welding Deposition by Oxy-Acetylene Gas Welding [5].
Hardfacing by combination of Arc and Gas Welding Tungsten Inert Gas Welding [6], Gas Metal Arc Welding [7].
Powder Spraying Flame Spraying [8], High Velocity Oxy-Fuel Process [9], Electric Arc Spraying, Plasma Transferred Arc [10], etc.
Laser Hardfacing or Cladding [11].
The various factors that should be considered for selecting of the most suitable welding process for a given job and application are: Base metal (substrate) composition, Nature of Work to be hardfaced, Function of the component, Size and shape of component, Accessibility of welding equipment, State of repair of worn component and Number of same or similar items to be hardfaced, etc.
3. Types of Hardfacing Alloys
The different hard-facing alloys available can be classified as under:
Low alloy iron-base alloys High alloy iron-base alloys The cobalt-base and nickel-base alloys Tungsten carbide materials
Low alloy iron-base alloys Materials containing up to 12% alloy components, usually chromium [12], molybdenum [13], and manganese [14].
High alloy iron-base alloys Materials with 12-50% alloy content, in addition to the chromium found in all iron- base hard-facing alloys, some of these alloys may also contain nickel [15] or cobalt [7].
The cobalt-base [7] and nickel-base alloys [15] Contain relatively small amounts of iron (1.3 to 12.5%). Of these, the most costly, but also the most versatile, are the cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloys [16]. All the cobalt- base and nickel-base alloys have high resistance to corrosion and oxidation; they possess low coefficients of friction, making them especially suitable for applications involving metal-to- metal wear; and they are almost always selected for applications involving temperatures of 5500C or higher. The cobalt-base alloys retain much of their original hardness at red heat (8000C).
Tungsten carbide materials [17] Tungsten carbide is one of the hardest materials available for industrial use. It cannot be melted by any flame and is also rather brittle. For hard-facing purposes, it is crushed and applied in conjunction with a binding metal.
4. Types of Base Materials
The base or substrate material on which hardfacing alloys are deposited by different welding processes is steel. Steel comprises of different types of metals and is made principally of iron. The various types of steels used in the industry for making different components or parts for different applications are classified in to the following types:
Low Carbon Steels and Low alloy Steels Medium Carbon Steels High Carbon Steels Other steels
Low Carbon Steels and Low alloy Steels: These steels include those in the AISI series C-1008 to C-1020 [18]. Carbon ranges from 0.10 to 0.25%, manganese ranges from 0.25 to 1.5%, phosphorous is 0.4% maximum, and sulfur is 0.5% maximum. Steels in this range are most widely used for industrial fabrication and construction. These steels can be easily welded with any of the arc, gas, and resistance welding processes. These steels include the low- manganese steels, the low-to-medium nickel steels, the low nickel-chromium steels, the molybdenum steels, the chromium-molybdenum steels, and the nickel-chromium-molybdenum steels. These alloys are included in AISI series 2315, 2515, and 2517. Carbon ranges from 0.12-0.30%, manganese from 0.40-0.60%, silicon from 0.20-0.45% & nickel from 3.25-5.25%.
Medium Carbon Steels: These steels include those in the AISI series C-1025 to C-1050 [19]. The composition is similar to low- carbon steels, except that the carbon ranges from 0.25 to 0.50% and manganese from 0.60 to 1.65%. Medium carbon steels are readily weld able provided some precautions are observed. These steels can be easily welded with any welding processes discussed above.
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High Carbon Steels: These steels include those in the AISI series from C- 1050 to C-1095[20]. The composition is similar to medium-carbon steels, except that carbon ranges from 0.30 to 1.00%. Special precautions must be taken when welding steels in these classes. These steels can be easily welded with any of the processes discussed above.
Other steels: These are Low Nickel Chrome Steels (AISI 3120, 3135, 3140, 3310, and 3316), Low Manganese Steels (AISI 1320, 1330, 1335, 1340, and 1345), Low Alloy Chromium Steels (AISI 5015 to 5160) and the electric furnace steels 50100, 51100, and 52100) which can be welded without special precautions when carbon is at low end of the range.
5. Hardfacing Applications
Hard facing technique is widely used in Agriculture: Plowshare points, Soil-tamper points, Harrower teeth, Tiller blades; Automotive: Trucks, automobiles, highway construction and agricultural vehicles, cam actuators and shafts, Exhaust manifolds, Pumps, Mufflers, Brakes, Clutches, Cones; Building construction: Brick moulds, Wear plates, Mixing machine blades, Fuller screws, Crushing cylinders, Punches and dies for ceramic materials; Chemical: Pump shafts and sleeves, Rotating joints, Valves, Mixer blades, Homogenizer blades, Agitator blades; Food processing: Extruder screws for vegetables oils, Grain mill equipments, Corn and sugar cane cutting equipments; Glass & Ceramics: Moulds, Screws, Mixing blades, Agitator blades; Leather goods; Cutting tools and equipment; Metal Working: Shear blades, Conveyor rollers, Surface cleaning rollers, Straightening rollers, Draw die equipment, Moulds; Mining Ore: Crusher blades, Power-shovel teeth, Conveyor chains, Scraper blades, Cut-off blades; Naval works: Rod ends, Blower turbines, Piston rods, Transmission shafts, Screw shafts; Paper: Roll cylinders for continuous machines, Drying cylinders, Mixers; Petroleum: Blowers and ventilators, Pumps, Heat exchangers; Power generation: Turbines; Public works: Steam shovel teeth and edges, Excavator teeth, Bulldozer blades and teeth, Dredge rollers, Tractor rollers; Rubber Tire moulds; Shop Machinery: Tool machinery, Carriage guides, Mandrels and spindles, Tail stocks, Bushings; Steel & Foundry: Ventilator and blower parts, Coke wagons, Blower nozzles, Feed rollers, Gaskets, Speed reducer, Ore and earth handling equipment, De-flashing dies, Shear blades, Punches, Forging moulds and punches, Sheet metal conveyor guide; Textiles: Filament guides, Diagonal cutter, Rollers, Heating plates.
6. Results and Discussion from Current Research
Current Research on hardfacing focuses on using various hardfacing/ welding techniques, different weld consumables and different base materials. Most of the research is carried out in studying the wear characterization, as the basic aim of hardfacing is to extend the service life of components used in the industry owing to the high cost of replacement of original component. The different hardfacing layers produced by shield manual arc welding (SMAW) process with a bare electrode coated with fluxes and to which different measures of ferrotitanium (FeTi), ferrovanadium (FeV), ferromolybdenum (FeMo) and graphite had been added showed good resistance to cracking and wear when the amounts of graphite, FeTi, FeV and FeMo were controlled within a range of 810%, 1215%, 1012% and 24%, respectively [21]. The coated tubular electrodes presented a favorable performance in comparison to the conventional coated electrode, making possible to reach lower dilutions yet keeping the same deposition rates. These results encourage further researches aiming the exploitation of this fabrication conception of SMAW electrodes [2]. FCAW welds presented higher abrasive wear resistance than the SMAW deposits [3]. Fe-based hardfacing alloys containing molybdenum compound have been deposited on AISI 1020 steel substrates by shield manual arc welding (SMAW) process. The hardfacing layer with good cracking resistance and wear resistance could be obtained when the amounts of FeMo was controlled within a range of 34 wt. %. The improvement of hardness and wear resistance of the hardfacing layers attributed to the formation of Mo2C carbide and the solution strengthening of Mo [13]. Gas welding is often a convenient and relatively inexpensive method of applying wear-resistant surface coatings [22]. In the analysis of microstructure and properties of TiC particles reinforced Fe-based surface composite coatings produced by gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), the results showed that in situ synthesized TiC particle reinforced composite coatings can be achieved under suitable welding parameters. The wear resistance of multi-layers composite coatings is about three to four times higher than that of 1045 steel substrate [23]. A series of high chromium FeCrC hardfacing alloys were produced by gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). Chromium and graphite alloy fillers were used to deposit coatings on ASTM A36 steel substrates. X-ray diffraction analysis and microstructure characteristics showed CrFe solid solution (), (Cr,Fe)23C6 and trace amounts of (Cr,Fe)7C3. Massive (Cr,Fe)23C6 contain (Cr,Fe)7C3 in the center, and causes high hardness value up to International Conference on Advancements and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (October 5-7, 2012)
HRC 70 [24]. A series of high carbon FeCrC hardfacing alloys were produced by gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). Chromium and graphite alloy fillers were used to deposit hardfacing alloys on ASTM A36 steel substrates. Depending on the four different graphite additions in these alloy fillers, this research produced hypereutectic microstructures of FeCr phase and (Cr,Fe)7C3 carbides on hard-facing alloys. The microstructural results indicated that primary (Cr,Fe)7C3 carbides and eutectic colonies of [CrFe+(Cr,Fe)7C3] existed in hardfacing alloys. With increasing the C contents of the hardfacing alloys, the fraction of primary (Cr,Fe)7C3 carbides increased and their size decreased. The hardness of hardfacing alloys increased with fraction of primary (Cr.Fe)7C3 carbides [25]. The FE-based hardfacing alloy has excellent wear resistance, excellent cavitation erosion resistance, and excellent corrosion resistance, thereby being substituted for a cobalt-based satellite alloy, which has been used for the hardfacing of a nuclear power plant valve. When the provided Fe-based hardfacing alloy is used for the hardfacing of the nuclear power plant valve, inexpensive Fe can be substituted for expensive Co and radiation fields formed by 58Co and 60Co radioactive isotopes can be efficiently reduced [26].
7. Conclusions
Hardfacing is a low cost, most versatile method of depositing wear resistant surfaces on components to extend their life and it provides the following benefits: Longer service life, higher productivity, less downtime - greater availability of machine and reduced cost. Hardfacing improves the life of the worn out component and reduces the cost of replacement. It reduces downtime by extending the service life and hence few shutdowns are required to replace them. Hardfacing can be done on any steel material using a suitable welding technique for a given job and application. Different alloying elements can be deposited on the substrate or base metal to achieve the desired properties such as hardness, wear resistance, abrasive resistance and impact resistance etc.
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