Investigation of Properties and Wear Behavior of HVOF Sprayed TiC-Strengthened Fe Coatings

High-velocity oxyfuel (HVOF) sprayed carbide based coatings (such as Cr₃C₂/NiCr) are industrially well established for wear protection applications. Due to their high carbide content of typically 75 wt.% and more, they provide very high hardness and excellent wear resistance. Unfortunately, costs for matrix materials such as nickel underlie strong fluctuations and are normally well above the prices for iron. Therefore an alternative concept to conventional carbides is based on TiC-strengthened low-cost Fe-base materials, which are already used for sintering processes. Depending on the carbon content, the Fe-base material can additionally offer a temperable matrix for enhanced wear behavior. The sprayability of TiC-strengthened Fe-powders with a gaseous and a liquid fuel driven HVOF system was investigated in this study. The resulting coatings were analyzed with respect to microstructure, hardness, and phase composition and compared with galvanic hard chrome, NiCrBSi, and Cr₃C₂/NiCr (80/20) coatings as well as with sintered Fe/TiC reference materials. Furthermore, the Fe/TiC coatings were heat treated to proof the retained temperability of the Fe matrix after thermal spray process. Tribometer tests (pin-on-disk tests) were conducted to determine wear properties.