Microstructure and wear behaviour of WC-steel composite cladding

Abstract WC-steel composite coatings were deposited on the ASTM 1045 steel substrates by modified arc spraying and then remelted on gas tungsten arc welding. The wear behaviours of the cladding were examined by an MM-200 tester at room temperature with the same condition. The microstructures, phase compositions and worn surface morphologies of the coatings were observed by optical microscope, X-ray diffractometer and SEM respectively. The wear mechanism of the cladding was discussed as well. The results show that the coating deposited by modified arc spraying consisted of Fe-Cr, Fe-Ni and WC particles and mechanically bonded with the substrate. The remelted cladding is compact with fewer defects and metallurgical bonded with the substrate. The cladding with 35 wt-%WC whose wear mass loss is minimum has the best wear resistance. Its dominant wear mechanism is mainly slight cutting and spalling. It is slight spalling and heavy cutting for the cladding with 25 wt-%WC content and spalling for that with...