Sliding wear behavior of Fe-Al and Fe-Al/WC coatings prepared by high velocity arc spraying

A comparative study was carried out to investigate the microstructure and tribological behavior of Fe-Al and Fe-Al/WC iron aluminide based coatings against Si₃N₄ under dry sliding at room temperature using a pin-on-disc tribotester. The coatings were prepared by high velocity arc spraying (HVAS) and cored wires. The effect of normal load on friction coefficient and wear rate of the coatings was studied. The microstructure and the worn surfaces of the coatings were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersion spectroscope (EDS). The results showed that, the main phases in both coatings were iron aluminide (Fe₃Al and FeAl) and α. WC/W₂C particles were embedded in the matrix of the composite coating. With adding WC hard particles, the Fe-Al/WC composite coating exhibited higher wear-resistance than Fe-Al coating. But the friction coefficient of both coatings showed little difference. As the load increased, the friction coefficient decreases slightly due to a rise of friction contact temperature and larger areas of oxide film formation on the worn surface, which act as a solid lubricant. Increasing load causes the maximum shear stress occurring at the deeper position below the surface, thereby aggravating the wear. The coating surface is subjected to alternately tensile stress and compression stress during sliding, and the predominant wear mechanism of the coatings appears to be delamination.