Influence of aging treatment on microstructure, wear and corrosion behavior of a nickel base hardfaced coating

Abstract

► In this study, we coated nickel based hardfacing alloy powder on 316 L (N) stainless steel. ► Aging at 923 K for 5000 h resulted in decrease of hardness due to coarsening of microstructure. ► This coarsening resulting in decrease in wear resistance only at RT tests. ► However at higher test temperatures, as-deposited and aged deposit showed similar wear behavior. ► The overall wear and corrosion resistance of the aged coatings found to be inferior. In this work nickel based hardfacing alloy (Colmonoy 5) was deposited on 316 L (N) stainless steel substrate to study the effects of aging treatment on coating microstructure, wear and corrosion properties. Coatings, deposited through plasma transferred arc (PTA) welding process, were aged at 923 K for 5000 h. Microstructural characterization studies carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed the coarsening of dendrites and precipitation of Cr 23 C 6 particles in the aged coating. The wear behavior of the as deposited and aged coatings was compared in room temperature (RT) and high temperature (823 K) under dry sliding wear condition (pin-on-disc configuration). At RT, aged coating experienced more wear loss when compared to as-deposited. At high temperature, the wear loss was almost same with similar operating wear mechanisms (tribo-oxidation) for both as-deposited and aged coating. From pitting corrosion studies, it was found that aged coatings are more prone to pitting when compared to the as-deposited coatings.