Tribomechanical insight into carbide-laden hybrid suspension-powder plasma-sprayed Tribaloy T400 composite coatings

Abstract

Tribaloy T400 (CoCrMoSi) caters to heavy-duty industrial tribological demands, but exhibits low fracture toughness with compromised resistance to crack propagation owing to the disparity in % Laves phases. In response to this limitation, hybrid suspension-powder plasma-sprayed novel Cr3C2 (d50 of 3.8 μm)/TiC (d50 of 2.2 μm) reinforced T400 (average powder size of ~10–45 μm) coatings are deposited on grit-blasted SSAB Domex®350 LA steel. Continuous, adherent and co-existing lamellar T400-carbide coatings of ~100 μm thickness were revealed in microstructure analysis. Intermetallic CoMoSi/Co3Mo2Si Laves and eutectic Co7Mo6/Co2Mo7 phases in T400 in addition to Cr3C2/TiC characteristic phases are confirmed via X-ray diffraction study. T400-Cr3C2 and T400-TiC have exhibited enhancement in elastic modulus (E) by 39%, and 36%, Vickers hardness (Hv) by 68%, and 82.5%; which consequently elucidates the augmentation in plasticity index (re) by 15.7% and 26.7%, and the drop in maximum displacement amplitude (hmax) by 14.9% and 19.8%, respectively, in T400-Cr3C2 and T400-TiC with reference to T400 (E of 135.2 GPa, Hv of 6.3 GPa, re = 0.318, and hmax = 1947 nm). A subsequent surmised fretting Hertzian contact diameter in T400-Cr3C2 (~95.43 μm)/T400-TiC (~96.1 μm) evaluated against T400 (~106.9 μm) from optical profilometry indicates an improved damage tolerance. A contact area-based wear model, proposed herein to assess wear on a rough surface, further justifies the wear characteristics. Furthermore, synergistic L929 cell viability is recorded in T400-Cr3C2 (by 46%) and T400-TiC (by 30%) when compared with the control (+ve) disk. To conclude, suspension-powder plasma-sprayed T400-Cr3C2/T400-TiC composite coatings allude potential application in wear-resistant articulating surfaces by eliciting significantly enhanced micro-hardness through refined microstructure retention, improved fretting wear resistance by forming protective tribofilm, and augmented cellular response.