EffectsofcarbidesizeandCocontentonthemicrostructure.PDFVIP

Available online at Surface Coatings Technology 202 (2007) 509 – 521 /locate/surfcoat Effects of carbide size and Co content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of HVOF-sprayed WC–Co coatings Pornthep Chivavibul ⁎, Makoto Watanabe, Seiji Kuroda, Kentaro Shinoda Composites and Coatings Center, National Institute for Materials Science, Ibaraki, Japan Received 5 February 2007; accepted in revised form 12 June 2007 Available online 27 June 2007 Abstract Twelve commercially available WC–Co powders with different average WC grain sizes (0.2, 2, and 6 μm) and cobalt contents (8, 12, 17 and 25 wt.%) were sprayed on carbon steel substrates using High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) spraying process. Hardness, Youngs modulus, and fracture toughness of the coatings were measured. While the hardness and Youngs modulus decreased with increasing cobalt content from 1600 to 1100 Hv and from 400 to 300 GPa respectively, the fracture toughness remained in the range from 4 to 6 MPam1/2. The coatings with 2 μm carbide showed lower hardness than those deposited from 0.2 and 6 μm carbide. These measured mechanical properties were discussed with the help of microstructures of the coatings investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and chemical analysis. Finally, the hardness of the binder phase in these coatings was estimated to range from 1000 to 1300 Hv by applying the mixture rule for composites to the experimental data, demonstrating that such hardening of the binder phase is a key factor affecting the mech