Effect of Age-Hardening Treatment on Microstructure and Sliding Wear-Resistance Performance of WC/Cu-Ni-Mn Composite Coatings

The Cu-Ni-Mn alloy-based hardfacing coatings reinforced by WC particles (WC/Cu-Ni-Mn) were deposited on a steel substrate by a manual oxy-acetylene weld hardfacing method. A sound interfacial junction was formed between the WC particles and the Cu-Ni-Mn alloy metal matrix binder even after the age-hardening treatment. The friction and wear behavior of the hardfacing coatings was investigated. With the introduction of WC particles, the sliding wear resistance of the WC/Cu-Ni-Mn hardfacing coatings was sharply improved: more than 200 times better than that of the age-hardening-treated Cu-Ni-Mn alloy coating. The sliding wear resistances of the as-deposited and the age-hardening-treated WC/Cu-Ni-Mn hardfacing coatings were 1.83 and 2.26 times higher than that of the commercial Fe-Cr-C hardfacing coating, which is mainly ascribed to the higher volume fraction of carbide reinforcement. Owing to the precipitation of the NiMn secondary phase in the Cu-Ni-Mn metal matrix, the age-hardening-treated coating had better wear resistance than that of the as-deposited coating. The main sliding wear mechanisms of the age-hardening-treated coatings are adhesion and abrasion.