The erosion of carbide-metal composites

doi:10.1016/0043-1648(88)90210-4

Wear

Volume 121, Issue 3, 1 February 1988, Pages 347-361

https://doi.org/10.1016/0043-1648(88)90210-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

A number of alloys composed of carbide particles in a ductile metal matrix have been eroded to elucidate the role of carbides during erosion. The alloys covered two ranges of carbide volume fraction: less than 30 vol.% (spheroidized plain carbon steels and cast high carbon alloys) and greater than 60 vol.% (cermets).

All specimens were eroded by quartz abrasive at a range of impact angles and at 60 m s⁻¹ in a gas-blast-type rig. In addition to mass loss data and examination of eroded surfaces to characterize the erosion behavior, specimens were taper sectioned and then examined by scanning electron microscopy. This technique allows simultaneous observation of an eroded surface and the underlying microstructure, facilitating the determination of erosion mechanisms.

For the low carbide content alloys the carbides promoted erosion. In those alloys that contained large carbides, the carbides disrupted plastic flow around the impact site, causing void formation and carbide fracture, or extreme localization of plastic flow with subsequent easy material removal.

The high carbide content cermets exhibited increasing erosion resistance as the carbide volume fraction was increased. For those alloys where the carbide content was high enough so that the carbide particles were actually in contact and supported each other (greater than 80 vol.%), forming a skeleton, the role of the softer matrix was diminished and the cermets eroded at lower rates than plain carbon steels.

At carbide fractions of about 70 vol.% some cermets eroded at rates comparable with those of plain carbon steels. Carbide fractions of about 90 vol.% were needed in most cases to effect a significant improvement in erosion resistance.

References (12)

A.J. Ninham
The effect of mechanical properties on erosion
Wear
(1988)
B. Roebuck et al.
The influence of composition, phase transformation and varying the relative f.c.c. and h.c.p. phase contents on the properties of dilute Co-W-C alloys
Mater. Sci. Eng.
(1984)
J.K. Fulcher et al.
The effect of carbide volume fraction on the low-stress abrasion resistance of high Cr-Mo white cast iron
S.S. Aptekar et al.
Erosion of white cast irons and Stellite
T.H. Kosel et al.
Effect of hard second-phase particles on the erosion resistance of model alloys
A. Ball et al.
Microstructural design of erosion resistant hard materials

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (71)

Erosion resistance enhancement of polymeric composites with air plasma sprayed coatings
2023, Surface and Coatings Technology
This paper addresses the fabrication and performance evaluation of a solid particle erosion resistant layer for polymer-based composites. Air plasma spray (APS) was used to deposit three different coating materials (tungsten carbide‑cobalt, martensitic chromium stainless steel, and alumina-titania) as an erosion resistant layer on top of a carbon/epoxy composite. A woven wire, stainless steel mesh was placed on top of the composite substrate during the composite fabrication process with the intention of producing a protection for composite fibers during grit blasting and thermal spraying, enabling the deposition of relatively harder materials on the composite and enhancing the adhesion strength between coatings and substrate. Desirable processing parameters for grit blasting and plasma spraying were also identified. Several tests were conducted on the coated samples to determine their mechanical and tribological performances. Using flatwise tensile tests, it was shown that the identified processing parameters could significantly improve the coating bonding strength. Solid particle resistance tests were also performed using air-jet erosion (ASTM G76) as well as hardness measurements on the coated samples. It was observed that coating materials with a brittle behavior offer a higher erosion resistance when they are sprayed on stiff and hard substrates. It was established that these coatings require strong support from the hard substrate to be more durable against erodent particles. Experimental results also indicate that coating materials with a ductile behavior are more desirable to be deposited on less stiff (soft) substrates such as carbon fiber reinforced composites.
Resistance to slurry erosion by WC-10Co-4Cr and Cr<inf>3</inf>C<inf>2</inf> − 25(Ni20Cr) coatings deposited by HVOF stainless steel F6NM
2022, International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials
Hydroelectric turbine machinery experience extreme wear and tear due to slurry erosion and is one of the leading causes for the unplanned shutdown of hydro power plants. The coatings produced by High-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spray process on different hydro-turbine parts is known for improving wear resistance. In the present study, WC-10Co-4Cr and Cr₃C₂ − 25(Ni20Cr) coatings were sprayed by HVOF process on F6NM stainless steel of Dul-Hasti hydro-power plant turbine material. The slurry erosive wear studies of developed coatings was performed using high speed slurry erosive wear tester. Sediments collected from Dul-Hasti power plant dam site was taken as erodent material. The effect of four parameters specifically rotational speed (500–1250 rpm), slurry concentration (25–40 wt%), sand particle size (125–425 μm), and test duration (450–900 min) on slurry erosion of coated materials was studied. It was observed that among all the developed three coatings, the WC-10Co-4Cr coated samples has shown superior erosion resistance compared to Cr₃C₂ − 25(Ni20Cr) coated samples due to its improved micro-hardness. Both the developed coatings were observed to be useful in enhancing the erosion resistance of F6NM steel significantly. Erosion mechanism were studied in detail using SEM. The properties such as hardness and porosity were also examined.
Erosion of alloys used for the stages of electrical submersible pumps
2020, Engineering Failure Analysis
Citation Excerpt :
It is generally considered that the presence of carbides in the microstructure of Ni-Resist increases overall hardness and is beneficial to erosion resistance [7]. Nevertheless, there have been experimental results indicating that the erosion resistance of a wide range of alloy series decreases as carbide content increases [8]. It remains unclear whether carbides impart or weaken the erosion resistance of Ni-Resist cast irons.
Judicious selection of the material used for the stages of an electric submersible pump (ESP) is crucial for a prolonged service life. Working in high-velocity fluids carrying solid particles, the stage surfaces are subjected to solid particle impingement and thus erosion defects arise. Moreover, subsequent erosion-corrosion synergy brings additional threats to the ESPs operating in corrosive environments. In this report, jet impingement tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of three alloys under erosive and corrosive conditions. The tested materials include two Ni-Resist cast irons — wear-resistant materials commonly used for ESP stages — and one superduplex stainless steel (SDSS) that is famous for high strength and extraordinary corrosion resistance. The erosion rate of each material, along with its dependence on jet impingement angle, is quantified in terms of overall volume loss and localized depth loss. Tap water and salt solution are used as particle carrier in parallel to study the synergy between erosion and corrosion. The erosion mechanism of different phases, as well as its dependence on particle impingement conditions, are discussed. Finally, the applicability of substituting Ni-Resist cast irons with SDSS to cope with highly corrosive conditions is assessed based on the experiment results.
A crystal plasticity assessment of normally-loaded sliding contact in rough surfaces and galling
2018, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids
An investigation of rough metal to metal contacting surfaces under normal load and undergoing sliding has been carried out with explicit representation of measured surface profiles within a crystal plasticity finite element formulation in which grain size, texture and slip properties are incorporated. A new metric called plastic reach has been introduced for contacting surfaces which reflects both the magnitude of the local surface asperity plasticity and its spatial reach. This quantity has been shown to obey a power law relationship with the applied normal load for sliding contact which in turn has been related to a hazard function. In this way, a new methodology to predict the galling frequency that follows a Weibull distribution has been established. Additionally, a quantitative definition of galling for the class of metal on metal contacting surfaces is considered. The predicted galling frequency distribution for a 316 stainless steel has been compared with independently experimentally measured galling frequencies showing qualitative agreement of the distributions. An assessment of confidence limits has also therefore been provided for the modelling methodology.
The erosion performance of particle reinforced metal matrix composite coatings produced by co-deposition cold gas dynamic spraying
2017, Applied Surface Science
Citation Excerpt :
Pull-out of the large Al2O3 particles is highlighted in Fig. 11d. Numerous authors [27,29,64,69–71] have explored the properties of distributed reinforcing particles in steel and aluminium alloys. For the majority of studies, the addition of reinforcing particles is found to improve the erosion resistance of MMC coatings.
This work reports on the erosion performance of three particle reinforced metal matrix composite coatings, co-deposited with an aluminium binder via cold-gas dynamic spraying. The deposition of ceramic particles is difficult to achieve with typical cold spray techniques due to the absence of particle deformation. This issue has been overcome in the present study by simultaneously spraying the reinforcing particles with a ductile metallic binder which has led to an increased level of ceramic/cermet particles deposited on the substrate with thick (>400 μm) coatings produced. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the erosion performance of the co-deposited coatings within a slurry environment. The study also incorporated standard metallographic characterisation techniques to evaluate the distribution of reinforcing particles within the aluminium matrix. All coatings exhibited poorer erosion performance than the uncoated material, both in terms of volume loss and mass loss. The Al₂O₃ reinforced coating sustained the greatest amount of damage following exposure to the slurry and recorded the greatest volume loss (approx. 2.8 mm³) out of all of the examined coatings. Despite the poor erosion performance, the WC-CoCr reinforced coating demonstrated a considerable hardness increase over the as-received AA5083 (approx. 400%) and also exhibited the smallest free space length between adjacent particles. The findings of this study reveal that the removal of the AA5083 matrix by the impinging silicon carbide particles acts as the primary wear mechanism leading to the degradation of the coating. Analysis of the wear scar has demonstrated that the damage to the soft matrix alloy takes the form of ploughing and scoring which subsequently exposes carbide/oxide particles to the impinging slurry.
A study of processing and slurry erosion behaviour of multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified HVOF sprayed nano-WC-10Co-4Cr coating
2017, Surface and Coatings Technology
In the present research work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were mixed with WC-10Co-4Cr nanostructured feedstock powder in order to study its effect on the slurry erosion behaviour of as-sprayed coating. The deposition of coatings was performed by using a high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) spray gun (Praxair TAFA JP-5000). Jet-type slurry erosion testing was performed to study the erosion performance and behaviour of as-sprayed and CNTs modified nano-WC-CoCr coatings. Important coating properties such as porosity, micro-hardness, surface roughness and indentation fracture toughness have been measured. The surface morphology of thermal spray powders, deposited coatings and worn-out surfaces has been studied by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The worn-out surfaces revealed that the material was removed by micro-cutting and ploughing of CoCr matrix, leading to the loosening and pull-out of WC grains in case of 30° impingement angle erosion testing. The 90° impingement angle erosion testing resulted in fracturing of WC grains followed by eruption of binder matrix by interlinking of cracks originated from fractured WC grains. The introduction of MWCNTs improved the fracture toughness of nano-WC-CoCr coating by ‘splat-bridging’ feature. The introduction of MWCNTs favoured the plastic deformation around the bridging by suppressing the brittle fracture of coating material. The increase in fracture toughness resulted in enhancement of erosion resistance of MWCNTs modified nano-WC-CoCr coating.

View all citing articles on Scopus

^☆: Paper presented at the International Conference on Wear of Materials, Houston, TX, U.S.A., April 5–9, 1987.

^†: Present address: Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K.

View full text

The erosion of carbide-metal composites☆

Abstract

Wear

Mater. Sci. Eng.

The effect of carbide volume fraction on the low-stress abrasion resistance of high Cr-Mo white cast iron

Erosion of white cast irons and Stellite

Effect of hard second-phase particles on the erosion resistance of model alloys

Microstructural design of erosion resistant hard materials