Microstructural Characterization of Cermet Cladding Developed Through Microwave Irradiation

In the present work, cladding of hardfacing WC10Co2Ni powder on austenitic stainless steel has been developed through a novel processing technique. The clads were developed using microwave hybrid heating. The clad of average thickness ~2 mm has been developed through the exposure of microwave radiation at frequency 2.45 GHz and power 900 W for the duration of 360 s. The developed clads were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, and measurement of Vicker’s microhardness. The microstructure study of the clad showed good metallurgical bonding with substrate and revealed that clads are free from any visible interface cracking. Clads were formed with partial dilution of a thin layer of the substrate. The cermet microstructure mainly consists of relatively soft metallic matrix phase and uniformly distributed hard carbide phase with skeleton-like structure. The developed clads exhibit an average microhardness of 1064 ± 99 Hv. The porosity of developed clad has been significantly less at approximately 0.89%.