Formation of molybdenum boride cermet coating by the detonation spray process

The effects of the powder particle size and the acetylene/oxygen gas flow ratio during the detonation spray process on the amount of molybdenum phase, porosity, and hardness of the coatings using MoB powder were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), etc. The results show that the presence of metallic molybdenum in the coating results from decomposition of MoB powder during thermal spray. The compositions of the coatings are metallic Mo, MoB, and Mo₂B, which are different from the phases of the original powder. The amount of molybdenum phase increases monotonously with the oxygen/acetylene ratio, but the increasing rate for the fine powder is faster than that for the coarse powder. The porosity and hardness of the coating are related to the amount of molybdenum phase. The phase constitution of the coating is discussed.