Wear and corrosion performance of Fe-based alloy coating on EN24 carbon steel

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the wear behaviour of FeBCr coatings on medium carbon steel (EN24) substrate which is used for several applications in automotive components. For this purpose, FeBCr powder was sprayed on a medium carbon steel substrate using a thermal spray technique (HVOF). High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) thermal spray was used to create the new amorphous coating of FeBCr (composition of 59%Fe-26%B-15%Cr in wt%) on a medium carbon steel substrate (EN24). A variety of tests were performed to assess the quality of the coating: The microstructure characteristics of powder and coating were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and optical microscopy. The initial phase contents of powder and coatings were studied by X- ray diffraction (XRD). The microscopy studies showed that the coatings contained unmelted particles; moreover, oxides and micro-cracks were observed at the surface. The mechanical property of the coatings was characterized using microhardness test. The test results showed that the coating has increased the hardness three times greater than the substrate. The coated surface showed lower level of porosity. This work also includes testing the corrosion behavior of FeBCr coating on medium carbon steel. The corrosion test was carried out in an environment with 0.5M of NaCl which showed that the corrosion resistance improved with coating. All the above results reveal that the coated region shows better surface properties than the substrate.