Characteristics of Fe-based WC Composite Coatings Prepared by Double-pass Plasma Cladding Process

The Fe-based WC composite coatings were clad on Q235 steel by double-pass plasma cladding method,in which the WC-Co(WC covered with cobalt:78wt%WC,12wt%Co)doping was about 10wt%,20wt%and 40wt%,respectively.The microstructure and wear performance of the composite coatings were investigated by X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscope(SEM),energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS)and ball-disc wear tests.The results show that the clad coatings contain mainly?-Fe,WC and carbides(Cr23C6,Fe3W3C-Fe4W2C)phases and the precipitation of carbides increases with the increase of WC-Co doping content.The WC-Co doping content has an obvious effect on the microstructure of the clad coatings.For the clad coatings with low WC-Co doping,the microstructure gradually transforms from planar crystal at the interface of substrate/coating to cell/dendritic crystal at the middle and the upper portion of the coatings.But there are a number of fishbone-like structure at the middle and the upper portion of clad coating with 40wt%WC-Co doping.The microstructure at the top is smaller than that at the bottom for all the coatings.The maximum of hardness of the clad coatings is 72.3HRC which is about 6.9 as much as the hardness of Q235 steel substrate.The composite coatings have good wear resistance due to the reinforcement of carbide particles and the strong bonding between carbide particles and ferroalloy.The suitable increase of WC-Co doping content can improve the wear resistance of the composite coatings.