Microstructure and fatigue properties of plasma transferred arc alloying TiC-W-Cr on gray cast iron

In this paper, TiC-W-Cr powders were alloyed on grey cast iron by plasma transferred arc (PTA). The alloying samples were characterized the microstructure, microhardness, fatigue life and fatigue crack growth. From the results, it is indicated that two distinguishing region: alloying zone, heat affected zone are formed on the surface after PTA alloying. The alloying zone mainly consists of primary austenite, martensite, a eutectic of (Fe,Cr)₇C₃ carbide and austenite as well as the uniformly distributed un-melted TiC particles. PTA alloying TiC-W-Cr eliminates the stress concentration at the edge of graphite and produced hard carbide, resulting in frequent crack deflection. As a result, the Weibull distribution of fatigue life demonstrates that PTA alloying TiC-W-Cr exhibits longer lives compared to matrix and PTA hardening without reinforcement, but more scattered. In addition, on the basis of the careful observation of fatigue crack growth, it is shown that the fatigue crack growth rate could be retarded by PTA alloying TiC-W-Cr at low stress intensity.