Surface & Coatings Technology 286 (2016) 95102

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Surface & Coatings Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/surfcoat

Microstructural and mechanical properties of advanced HVOF-sprayed

WC-based cermet coatings
S.M. Nahvi a,, M. Jafari b
a
Steel Institute, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran
b
Department of Materials Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aim of this research was to investigate the microstructural and mechanical properties of WCFeCrAl and
Received 27 July 2015 WCNiMoCrFeCo coatings deposited by high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) spraying. Microstructural characteriza-
Revised 20 October 2015 tions of feedstock powders and coatings were carried out using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning
Accepted in revised form 9 December 2015
electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Image analysis techniques
Available online 10 December 2015
were utilized to measure the porosity level of the coatings, the volume fraction of different phases and the carbide
Keywords:
grain size in the powders and coatings. Microhardness and indentation fracture toughness measurements were
HVOF executed to evaluate the mechanical properties of the coatings. For comparison, the same experiments were
WCNiMoCrFeCo performed on conventional WCCo coating deposited by similar HVOF spraying parameters. WCNiMoCrFeCo
WCFeCrAl coating showed the maximum W2C/WC peak ratio of 40.42% in comparison to WCFeCrAl (12.48%) and WC
WCCo Co (9.14%) coatings indicating a larger extent of W2C phase precipitated during solidication of WCNiMoCrFeCo
Mechanical properties coating. The highest porosity level of 5.1 vol% was observed in the case of WCFeCrAl coating due to the lower
temperature of the powder particles causing the FeCrAl matrix not to be fully melted. The microhardness of
WCFeCrAl coating was found to be 1498 HV0.3 indicating higher value as compared to WCCo and
WCNiMoCrFeCo coatings with 1305 and 1254 HV0.3, respectively. Moreover, a mean fracture toughness of
5.9 MPam1/2 was obtained for WCCo, which was substantially greater than that for both WCFeCrAl and
WCNiMoCrFeCo coatings with 3.1 and 2.8 MPam1/2, respectively.
2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Most engineering materials used for applications in which abrasive
wear resistance is a major requirement such as tool steels, white
cast irons, cobalt-based alloys and metallic matrix composites are
multiphase materials consisting of a metallic matrix reinforced by a
dispersion of hard particles [1]. The reason for the success of this type
of material in tribological applications can be explained in a simplied
form by stating that the toughness of the matrix together with the hard-
ness of the reinforcement particles provides optimal wear resistance.
Due to their excellent combination of hardness, fracture toughness
and wear resistance, ceramicmetal (cermet) composites are extensive-
ly used to produce wear resistant parts such as cutting, drilling and
machining tools [24]. Among different types of cermet composites,
WC-based cermets have frequently been used in industry to improve
the wear resistance of machine parts [2,57]. The WC-based cermets
combine the hard WC phase and a ductile metallic binder phase, nor-
mally cobalt, in different proportions to produce materials with a wide
range of properties [8]. Other metallic or alloyed binders such as nickel
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mehran_nahvi@hotmail.com (S.M. Nahvi).
are used to increase the corrosion resistance of WC cermets [9]. The
characteristic high hardness and fracture toughness of sintered WC
cermets have made them ideal materials for abrasive wear resistant
components in a variety of industrial applications.
As an alternative technique to the bulk material fabrication, surface
engineering aims to develop wear resistant coatings onto different
substrates to benet from their physical, chemical, mechanical and
thermal properties. In this context, WC-based thermal spray coatings,
mostly deposited by high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) spraying, are prom-
ising candidates for wear protection due to their excellent combination
of high hardness and fracture toughness, low friction and chemical in-
ertness [1014]. The properties and performance of WC cermet coatings
are attributed to a complex function of size, shape and distribution of
carbides, composition and content of the metallic matrix, and also mi-
crostructural evolution during HVOF spraying.
The investigation of the causal relationship between deposition pro-
cess parameters, microstructure and wear resistance has shown that to
achieve the optimal performance, the coating should have large extent
of retained WC particles nely dispersed within the metallic matrix
[1519]. This depends essentially on the level of WC decarburization
during HVOF leading to the formation of non-WC phases such as W2C,
amorphous/nanocrystalline CoWC phase and complex carbides in

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2015.12.016
0257-8972/ 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
96 S.M. Nahvi, M. Jafari / Surface & Coatings Technology 286 (2016) 95102

Table 1
The details of the commercially produced powders.

Powder Manufacturer Commercial designation Powder type Nominal size (m)

WCC Sulzer Metco Woka 3202 Agglomerated and sintered 45 + 15

(8317 wt.%)
WCF H.C.Starck Amperit 618 Agglomerated and sintered 45 + 15
(8515 wt.%)
WCN H.C.Starck Amperit 529 Agglomerated and sintered 45 + 15
(8515 wt.%)

the coating microstructure [2023]. Due to their high brittleness, these
non-WC phases deteriorate the wear performance of the cermet
coatings by decreasing the fracture toughness [2427].
The extent to which WC decarburization takes place is a function of
powder characteristics, ame temperature and particles velocity. In re-
cent decades, the processing, properties and applications of the WCCo
coatings with different cobalt contents have been extensively studied.
There is also a considerable work on the characterization and properties
of thermally sprayed WC cermets with other binders such as CoCr
[28,29] and Ni [3033]. However, there is little information in the liter-
ature about the new WC cermet coatings with complicated alloyed
binders, e.g. nickel-based and iron-based alloys. In this work, the
microstructural and mechanical properties of WCNiMoCrFeCo and
WCFeCrAl coatings, deposited using a Top Gun HVOF system, are inves-
tigated and compared with those of the conventional WCCo coating.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
In this study, three different WC-based cermet powders including
WCNiMoCrFeCo (denoted as WCN), WCFeCrAl (denoted as WCF)
and WCCo (denoted as WCC) were used as feedstock materials. The
average WC grain size in WCN, WCF and WCC powders were 0.7,
0.5 and 1.0, respectively. All powders were agglomerated and sintered
spheroids with diameters in the range of 1545 m. Details of the pow-
ders provided by two manufacturers (H.C. Starck, Laufenburg, Germany
and Sulzer Metco, Hattersheim, Germany) are given in Table 1.
The measured chemical composition of the feedstock powders is
given in Table 2.
The particle size distribution of the powders was measured by a
Malvern Mastersizer S (Malvern Instruments Ltd., Worcestershire, UK)
laser particle size analyzer. The substrates used for coating deposition
were plain-carbon steel (0.12% C, 0.7% Mn) sheets with hardness of
246 HV0.3 and a dimension of 59 25 3 mm. The substrates were
cleaned and grit blasted with ~250 m brown alumina just before the
coating process in order to degrease and roughen the surface.
2.2. HVOF spraying
2.3. Microstructural characterization
The phase composition of the powders and coatings was identied
by X-ray diffraction (XRD) (Siemens D500 diffractometer, 40 kV,
25 mA) utilizing a monochromatic Cu K ( = 0.15406 nm) radiation.
The diffraction data were collected over a 2 range of 3080 with a
step size of 0.010 and 4 s dwell time per step.
Microstructural examination of feedstock powders and as-sprayed
coatings was carried out using a scanning electron microscope (SEM)
(Philips XL30, FEI Ltd.) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX)
analysis. All SEM investigations were performed at an accelerating
voltage of 20 kV in both secondary electron (SE) and back-scattered
electron (BSE) modes.
Image analysis (IA) was performed on SEM/BSE images at a
magnication of 2500 obtained from polished cross-sections of the
coatings in order to measure the porosity level of the coatings.
Image analysis software (ImageJ 1.41) was employed to identify and
measure porosity. Ten images were recorded to calculate the mean
pore volume fraction.
The volume fraction of phases and the carbide grain size in the
powders and coatings were estimated by the method of line analysis
from BSE micrographs at magnications in the range of 500010000.
Chemical analysis was executed on as-sprayed coatings by LSM Ltd.
(London and Scandinavian Metallurgical Co. Limited, South Yorkshire,
UK). Oxygen and carbon contents were determined by XRF-HSS
(quantitative), while the other elements were determined by X-Ray
Fluorescence (XRF) technique using a XRF-Uniquant (semiquantitative).
2.4. Mechanical properties evaluation
Vickers microhardness of as-sprayed coatings was measured using a
LECO M-400 microhardness tester under a load of 300 gf for dwell time
of 15 s. The mean value of 10 indents taken along the mid-plane of the
cross-section parallel to the coating/substrate interface was quoted as
the coatings hardness.
The fracture toughness of coatings was determined by an indenta-
tion method. Vickers indentation measurements were performed on
the metallographically prepared cross-sections of the coating under a

The feedstock powders were sprayed onto the substrates using a Table 3
Praxair/UTP Top-Gun HVOF spray system with parameters listed in Spray parameters employed for coating depositions.
Table 3. Hydrogen and nitrogen were employed as the fuel and carrier
Spray parameter WCC WCF WCN
gases, respectively, and the samples were cooled with compressed air
1
jets during spraying. O2 ow rate (l min ) 240 240 240
Fuel gas (H)2 ow rate (l min1) 640 640 640
Carrier gas (N2) ow rate (l min1) 17 17 17
Spray distance (mm) 250 250 250
Table 2 Number of pass 40 40 51
The measured compositions of the feedstock powders. Length of pass (mm) 77 77 76
Carousel diameter (mm) 280 280 280
Designation Composition (wt%) Substrate velocity (m s1) 1 1 1
Gun transverse speed (mm s1) 5 5 5
W Ni Mo Cr Fe Co Al C O
Coating time (s) 674 729 924
WCC 77.98 0.04 16.82 5.16 Consumption of powder (g) 710 635 555
WCF 79.05 3.40 10.79 1.02 5.58 0.16 Coating thickness (m) 445 436 260
WCN 79.97 8.47 2.24 2.15 0.84 0.62 - 5.65 0.06 Powder feed rate (g min1) 63 52 36
 S.M. Nahvi, M. Jafari / Surface & Coatings Technology 286 (2016) 95102 97

load of 5 kgf. The length of the cracks parallel to the substrate/coating

interface was measured from optical micrographs at a magnication
of 400 using the image analysis software (ImageJ 1.41). For each coat-
ing, at least 35 indentations were conducted. The fracture toughness
(Kc) of the coatings was calculated according to the Evans and Wilshaw
model [34]:

   
P 4:5a
K C 0:079 log 1
a3=2 c

where P is the applied indentation load (N), a is the indentation half

diagonal (m), and c is the crack length from the center of the indent
(m). The recommended c/a ratio for valid use of this equation is
0.6 c/a b 4.5.
Fig. 1. XRD patterns of (a) WCC, (b) WCF and (c) WCN powders.

Fig. 2. SEM images from morphology and cross-section of (a,d) WCC, (b,e) WCF and (c,f) WCN powders.
98 S.M. Nahvi, M. Jafari / Surface & Coatings Technology 286 (2016) 95102

3. Results and discussion Table 4

Microstructural properties of WCC, WCF and WCN powders and coatings.

3.1. Characterization of powders
The XRD patterns of feedstock powders (Fig. 1) show that the main
peaks correspond to the WC phase for all powders. In addition, different
crystal phases related to the binder of each powder are detected. These
phases include Co (fcc) binder for WCC powder, AlFe and Fe3W3C for
WCF powder with FeCrAl alloy binder, and NiCrFe and Mo for the
WCN powder with Ni-based Hastelloy binder. These patterns verify
that in the powders there are no extra carbide phases to a level which
is detectable by the XRD system.
SEM images from morphology and cross-section of different
feedstock powders are shown in Fig. 2. As illustrated in Figs. 2(ac),
the agglomerated and sintered particles for all powders have a spherical
morphology and are highly porous, with large holes within the spherical
particles.
Fig. 3 shows the result of particle size distribution analysis for the
powders measured using the laser diffractometry technique. The medi-
an sizes of particles (d50%) and the size distribution ranges (d5%d95%)
are also included in Fig. 3. It can be seen that there are small differences
in the size range and median size of particles among the powders. These
results indicate similarity of powders in morphology and particle size
although they have different binder phase and/or carbide grain size.
Figs. 2(df) show the cross-sectional BSE images of powder particles
at high magnication. Two phases with different contrasts are visible:
the WC particles with bright contrast and the metallic binder phases
with dark contrast. It is also obvious that the carbide grains are
completely surrounded by metallic binders. The blocky shape of WC
grains in WCC powder is clear (Fig. 2d), while in the case of WCF
and WCN powders, WC grains with more rounded morphology can
be observed (Fig. 2(e,f)); also, it is apparent that WCC contains larger
WC grains as compared to WCF and WCN powders.
The grain size and volume fraction of WC in the powders, measured
based on the cross-sectional BSE images utilizing the line analysis
method, are given in Table 4.
3.2. Characterization of as-sprayed coatings
3.2.1. Microstructure
Table 5 shows the chemical composition of as-sprayed coatings. It is
clear that WC decarburization has occurred upon HVOF spraying for
all materials designations. The minimum carbon loss is obtained
for WCF (16%), while WCC and WCN coatings undergo more severe
Designation State Carbide phase WC size Mean free (W2C/WC)
(vol.%) (m) path (m) ratio
WCC Powder 67 1.0
Coating 55 0.8 0.68 9.14
WCF Powder 77 0.5
Coating 58 0.4 0.31 12.48
WCN Powder 73 0.7
Coating 59 0.6 0.4 40.42
decarburization of 30% and 36%, respectively. In addition, there has
been no signicant oxygen pick-up for WCC coating whereas a more
pronounced oxygen pick-up is observed during spraying WCN
(0.14%) and WCF (0.46%) coatings. Fig. 4 shows the comparative
XRD patterns of the as-sprayed coatings. XRD peaks corresponding to
the W2C and W phases formed during deposition are detected for all
coatings but at different intensities. WCC coating consists of lower
W2C phase than the WCF one, while the highest level of W2C is ob-
served in case of WCN coating. As tabulated in Table 4, the calculated
W2C/WC peak ratio of WCN (40.42%) is signicantly higher than that
of WCF (12.48%) and WCC (9.14%) coatings, signifying that the
greatest fraction of W2C phase is formed in WCN coating as compared
to other coatings.
There is also a broad diffraction halo between 2 values of approxi-
mately 37 and 47 for each coating indicating the presence of an amor-
phous phase in the deposits. Although this broad halo exists for all
coatings, it is narrower and less signicant for WCF and WCN in con-
trast to WCC coating. Besides, no crystalline peaks related to the binder
phases can be observed on the XRD patterns of the coatings.
Decomposition of WC phase during HVOF spraying can be described
in the following stages:
(a) Melting of binder phase: When the powder particles are exposed
to the hot gas jet (with a temperature of ~2000 K), the tempera-
ture of particles is increased until the metallic binder phase
reaches its melting point while the WC particles, with melting
point of 3143 K, mostly remain in solid state.
(b) Dissolution of WC in the binder phase: At this stage, WC begins
to be dissolved in the liquid binder phase enriching the metallic
matrix in W and C. As a result, the binder phase of sprayed
coatings shows a wide range of compositions depending on the
temperature the powder particles reach.
(c) Decarburization: Due to the high temperature involved in the
spraying process, oxygen diffuses quickly throughout the liquid
phase and reacts with the dissolved C to form CO2. Carbon will
be removed from the melt either by reaction with oxygen at
the melt/gas interface or through oxygen diffusion into the rim
of the molten particles, leading to CO formation.
(d) Solidication: Final stage of decarburization is rapid solidica-
tion. It may occur during the particles ight either when they
are near the substrate or when the particles impact on the sub-
strate. When the temperature decreases, new phases precipitate
due to the decreasing solubility of W in the binder phase. As the C
has been partially removed due to the oxidation reactions in the
previous stages, it is only possible to form new phases with a
lower amount of carbon (W2C, W) and also nanocrystalline/

Table 5
Chemical composition of as-sprayed coatings for all material designations.

Designation Composition (wt.%) Carbon

loss (%)
W Ni Mo Cr Fe Co Al C O

WCC 79.20 0.04 17.09 3.61 0.06 30

WCF 79.44 3.42 10.80 1.03 4.69 0.62 16
WCN 81.58 8.66 2.28 2.20 0.86 0.61 3.61 0.2 36
Fig. 3. Size distribution analysis of the feedstock powders.
 S.M. Nahvi, M. Jafari / Surface & Coatings Technology 286 (2016) 95102
Fig. 4. XRD patterns of (a) WCC, (b) WCF and (c) WCN coatings.
amorphous phase of the binder containing the remained W and
C. Carbon loss brings the melt composition much closer to the
W2C and/or W phase eld.
In addition, W2C phase can be formed through oxidation of WC par-
ticles located on the surface of starting powder because they are directly
exposed to oxidizing HVOF ame [14].
Fig. 5 demonstrates the cross-sectional BSE images from microstruc-
ture of the sprayed coatings. These images exhibit a typical splat-like
microstructure associated with thermal spraying with dark and bright
contrast matrix layers corresponding to the regions of lower and higher
mean atomic number, respectively. In the darker areas of the matrix,
WC particles have retained their angular morphology representing a
negligible WC dissolution into the matrix. In the brighter regions, WC
Fig. 5. The cross-sectional BSE images from microstructure of (a) WCC, (b) WCF and (c,d) WCN coatings.
99
particles have a more rounded appearance and are often partially or
fully enclosed by an irregular-shaped W2C phase with brighter contrast
indicating that WC particles act as efcient nucleation sites for W2C pre-
cipitation and growth [35,36]. These features associate with the part of
cermet particles in which a larger extent of WC dissolution and decarbu-
rization has occurred due to the higher local temperature [14,24].
Therefore, the coating structure is made up of retained WC grains,
which remain in solid state during spraying, new precipitated phases
(WC, W2C and W) depending on the local composition of binder along
with the a nanocrystalline/amorphous binder phase containing dis-
solved W and C.
It is evident that bright shells surrounding WC grains are much more
prevalent for WCN coating (Fig. 5c,d), in agreement with XRD spec-
trum of this coating (Fig. 4c) representing the maximum W2C/WC
peak ratio. Since the HVOF spray parameters for all coatings were nearly
identical (see Table 3), the size of the powder particles becomes a key
factor determining the level of decarburization; that is, the smaller the
particle size, the higher the particles temperature during HVOF spraying
[37]. Based on this explanation, it is proposed that the higher level of
WC decarburization and W2C formation in WCN coating arises from
its smallest powder particle size (~32 m), which causes the in-ight
particles to experience higher temperatures during spraying leading to
the greater WC dissolution into the binder phase. Another mechanism
for larger extent of WC decarburization of WCN coating in comparison
to WCC is attributed to the W and C solubility in different metallic
binders. When the temperature is decreased upon solidication, new
phases are formed due to decreasing the solubility of W and C in the liq-
uid binder phase. Since the solubility of W and C in Ni is lower than that
in Co binder, the new carbide phases including W2C can be more easily
crystallized during solidication of WCN coating. This is in good agree-
ment with ndings of Shaw et al. [38], who reported the larger extent of
W2C and W formation for WCNiAl coating than that for WCC coating
because of lower solubility of W and C in NiAl binder. In contrast, higher
solubility of W and C in the Co binder after cooling results in the
100 S.M. Nahvi, M. Jafari / Surface & Coatings Technology 286 (2016) 95102

Fig. 6. Image analysis performed on the cross-sectional BSE images of (a) WCC, (b) WCF and (c) WCN coatings.

formation of binder phase rich in W and C in a solution state; this causes According to Table 6, the WCF coating reveals the maximum poros-
the precipitation of new carbide phases to be insignicant, and ity of 5.1 vol.%, while WCN and WCC coatings show lower porosity
also stimulates the amorphous and nanocrystalline CoWC phase percentages of 2.2 and 1.8 vol.%, respectively. The minimum porosity
formation. of WCC coating is due to a good wetting property of Co binder for
The average diameter of WC grains and the volume fraction of the WC grains compared to those of FeCrAl and NiMoCrFeCo binders
binder were measured on the coatings cross-sections by line analysis [4042]. The micrograph corresponding to WCC coating (Fig. 5c) also
technique. The mean free path of the binder () was also measured shows evidences of the greater degree of particle melting and ow
from the BSE images using the following equation [39]: after impact on the substrate.
On the other hand, the highest level of porosity occurring in the Fe
1 f coating can be interpreted by the following mechanism. Based on data
2
NL given in Table 5, the lowest carbon loss corresponds to WCF coating.
This implies the lowest extent of W and C dissolution into the binder
where NL is the number of non-continuous grains intersected on a me- due to lower temperature of the in-ight particles. Under such a circum-
tallographic plane by a line of unit length and f is the volume fraction of stance, the binder has no chance to be fully melted, and thereby the po-
the dispersed phase. For each coating, the results of 5 measurements rosity signicantly increases for WCF coating. This is in consistence
were quoted to obtain an average value. with XRD pattern of WCF coating which indicates a lower extent of
Table 4 presents the results of the mean volume fraction of carbide W2C compared to WCN coating and also a narrower halo (representing
phases, grain size of WC, the mean free path of the binders, measured only a minor content of amorphous phase in the deposits) in contrast to
by line analysis method, for different coatings. WCC coatings.
The results indicate that an almost similar carbide phase volume
fraction in the range of 5559% exists in all coatings. The WCC coating
exhibits the higher WC grain size (~ 0.8 m) and mean free path
(0.68 m) in comparison to WCF (WC grain size: ~0.4 m, mean free
path: 0.31 m) and WCN (WC grain size: ~ 0.6 m, mean free path:
0.4 m) coatings.
The porosity percentage of the coatings was measured using image
analysis of cross-sectional BSE images. Fig. 6 shows the typical results
of image analysis performed on the coatings cross-section to determine
the porosity level.
Table 6 presents the volume fraction of the porosity along with the
mean pore size of the coatings.

Table 6
Porosity percentage and mechanical properties of WCC, WCF and WCN coatings.

Coating Porosity Mean pore size Microhardness KIC

(vol.%) (m) (HV0.3) (MPam1/2)

WCC 1.8 0.36 1305 71 5.9 0.13

WCF 5.1 0.25 1498 82 3.1 0.23
Fig. 7. Cumulative percentiles corresponding to the indentation fracture toughness of
WCN 2.2 0.30 1254 38 2.8 0.27
WCC, WCF and WCN coatings.
 S.M. Nahvi, M. Jafari / Surface & Coatings Technology 286 (2016) 95102
3.2.2. Mechanical properties
The microhardness and fracture toughness of WCC, WCF and WC
N coatings are summarized in Table 6.
The WCF coating exhibits the maximum microhardness of
1498 HV0.3, while WCC and WCN coatings reveal the lower values
of 1305 and 1254 HV0.3, respectively. The hardness of thermally sprayed
WC cermet coatings depends on the volume fractions of new phases
(e.g., W2C and W) and retained WC phase, hardness of binder phase
and microstructural properties of the coatings such as porosity, mean
free path of binder and WC grain size. The WCN and WCF coatings,
which have almost identical volume fractions of carbide phases com-
prising both the retained WC and newly precipitated W2C (see
Table 4), show a large difference in their hardness values. This can be ex-
plained by the lower carbon loss and W2C/WC ratio of WCF coating
resulting in the higher fraction of retained WC phase in comparison to
WCN coating. The important role of the retained WC phase in enhanc-
ing the hardness of thermally sprayed WC cermet coatings is well
known and, thus, many efforts have been made to control the decompo-
sition of the WC phase during the spraying process [43,44]. Usmani et al.
[45] showed that increasing W2C content in microstructure of HVOF-
sprayed WC cermet coatings yield to a decrease in hardness. The forma-
tion of the harder and more brittle W2C phase surrounding the WC
grains decreases their cohesion to the coating matrix consequently de-
teriorating the mechanical properties [46,47].
Fig. 7 shows the plots of the cumulative distribution of the fracture
toughness of the coatings. The results clearly demonstrate the higher
fracture toughness of WCC coating with mean value of 5.9 MPam1/2
in comparison to both WCF and WCN coatings with 3.1 and
2.8 MPam1/2, respectively.
In HVOF coatings, the cracks mostly propagate parallel to the sub-
strate because of the weak inter-splat interfaces. As for HVOF-sprayed
WC cermet coatings, the brittle regions including the amorphous
metal matrix, embrittled through WC dissolution [46], and W2C phase
are preferential paths for crack propagation [48]; also, the high level of
porosity and weak cohesion between matrix-carbide interfaces facili-
tate the crack propagation, thereby decreasing the fracture toughness
of the coatings [49]. Considering the above-mentioned factors, it can
be concluded that the higher fracture toughness of WCC coating results
from the minor porosity, which provides a greater WC-matrix cohesion
and stronger inter-splat interface, and the lower W2C/WC ratio of this
coating with respect to WCF and WCN coatings.
4. Conclusions
In this study, the microstructural and mechanical properties of ad-
vanced HVOF-sprayed WCN and WCF coatings were evaluated and
compared to those of the conventional WCC coating. The following
conclusions can be drawn:
(1) Based on carbon content analysis, a minimum carbon loss of 16%
was obtained for WCF, while WCC and WCN coatings suf-
fered from more severe decarburization of 30% and 36%, respec-
tively.
(2) WCN coating showed the highest W2C/WC peak ratio of 40.42%
in comparison to WCF (12.48%) and WCC (9.14%) coatings
representing the higher amounts of W2C phase precipitated dur-
ing solidication of WCN coating.
(3) The WCF coating revealed a maximum porosity of 5.1 vol.% due
to the lower temperature of particles causing the FeCrAl matrix
not to be fully melted. This was conrmed by chemical analysis
results indicating the lowest extent of W and C dissolution into
the FeCrAl binder because of the lower temperature of the in-
ight WCF particles.
(4) A maximum microhardness of 1498 HV0.3 was measured for
WCF coating, whereas WCC and WCN coatings revealed
lower values of 1305 and 1254 HV0.3.
101
(5) The results showed a mean fracture toughness of 5.9 MPam1/2 for
WCC which was substantially greater than that for both WCF
and WCN coatings, respectively with 3.1 and 2.8 MPam1/2. The
higher fracture toughness of WCC coating results from the
minor porosity and stronger inter-splat interface together with
the lower W2C/WC ratio of this coating in comparison to WCF
and WCN coatings.
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