Mechanical behavior and sliding wear studies on iron aluminide coatings reinforced with titanium carbide

Abstract

Wear-resistant iron aluminide-based composites were coated on steel substrates with the High-Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) technique using ball milled Fe3Al and TiC powders as feedstock. The phase composition, microstructure, microhardness, elastic modulus and dry sliding wear performance of unreinforced Fe3Al and Fe3Al–TiC composite coatings (reinforced with 30 and 50 vol. % TiC particles) were evaluated in order to reveal the relationship between the mechanical and tribological behaviors. Compared to the unreinforced coatings, the composite coating with 30 vol. % TiC particles exhibited much greater hardness and higher elastic modulus. The increase of the elastic modulus of the composite coatings did not result in deterioration of sliding wear behavior. The addition of 50 vol. % TiC resulted in a further increase in hardness, however, both composite coatings showed the same elastic modulus. The fractured cross sectional surface of the unreinforced coating showed a weakly bonded microstructure promoting delamination in wear tests, whereas the composite fractured surface showed strong mechanical bonding between the matrix and carbide particles, leading to better cohesion. The Fe3Al–TiC coatings showed almost three orders of magnitude higher wear resistance under the dry sliding wear test compared to the unreinforced coatings.