Wear resistance of Fe-Nb-Cr-W, Nb, AISI 1020 and AISI 420 coatings produced by thermal spray wire arc

The commercial materials 140MXC (with iron, tungsten, chrome, niobium), 530AS (AISI 1015 steel) and 560AS (AISI 420 steel) on AISI 4340 steel were deposited using thermal spray with arc. The aim of work was to evaluate the best strategy abrasive wear resistance of the system coating-substrate using the following combinations: (1) homogeneous coatings and (2) coatings depositing simultaneously 140MXC + 530AS and 140MXC + 560AS. The coatings microstructure was characterized using Optical microscopy, Scanning electron microscopy and Laser con focal microscopy. The wear resistance was evaluated through dry sand rubber wheel test (DSRW). We found that the wear resistance depends on the quantity of defects and the mechanical properties like hardness. For example, the softer coatings have the biggest wear rates and the failure mode was characterized by plastic deformation caused by particles indentation, and the other hand the failure mode at the harder materials was grooving. The details and wear mechanism of the coatings produced are described in this investigation. (Author)