Performance evaluation of TIG cladded in-situ TiC-TiB2 composite coating fabricated on AISI304 stainless steel

Abstract

Tungsten inert gas (TIG) cladding is a surface modification technique used to deposit a coating with hard and resistance to wear material, which can improve the operational life of engineering components. In the present work, to improve the mechanical performance of AISI 304 stainless steel, in-situ TiC-TiB2 composite coating was fabricated through TIG cladding route by pre-placing Ti and B4C powder mixture at 3:1 wt ratio. The single line clad width and height was measured from the cross-sectional SEM images of the clad track. The microstructural analysis of the clad layer was accomplished through SEM images; however, EDS analysis was performed to study the distribution of different elements present in the clad layer. Almost a uniform clad layer with minor pores at the boundaries of the clad track was observed. The micro-hardness values variation towards the depth of the coating were evaluated for the clad layers deposited with different arc scanning speeds. Average value of micro-hardness was recorded between 800 and 1000 HV0.05, which was significantly higher than the substrate hardness.