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Components from equipment for different processing industries are exposed to severe service
conditions. Parts are therefore manufactured so that specific demands can be met through
adequate selection of surface processing techniques and hardfacing alloys. Whenever surface
welding techniques are used to improve a components performance, quality requirements such
as controlled dilution of the deposited alloy by the substrate are a priority. This work has evaluated
this interaction between a hardfacing Co based alloy and the substrate steel. A high carbon
cobalt based alloy was plasma transferred arc (PTA) deposited on three different substrate
steels. The role of the chemical composition of the substrate on the characteristics of the coatings
was evaluated for two sets of processing parameters, targeting two extreme dilution levels.
Coatings characterisation was assessed through microstructure analysis, microhardness
measurements, dilution levels, and wear rate measurements. Results showed that the influence
of the substrate chemical composition was more significant for coatings of controlled low dilution
deposits. The selection of the substrate steel affected dilution levels, microstructure, hardness
values, and sliding wear rates exhibited by the coatings. On both sets of coatings deposits made
on carbon steel gave better wear performance than those deposited on the stainless steels
tested.
Keywords: Co alloys, Hardfacing, Dilution, Microstructure, Superalloys, Wear performance
Introduction
difficulties can be minimised by using adequate processing parameters. Typically these are determined for the
alloy being deposited, regardless of the chemical
composition of the substrate metal. However, taking
into consideration that one of the quality requirements
of surface welded coatings is a controlled dilution of the
deposited alloy by the substrate metal, and that coatings
produced by conventional welding processes exhibit
dilution levels above 20%,5 the chemical composition of
the latter is relevant to maximising coatings performance. In order to evaluate the role of the chemical
composition of the substrate steel on the features of a
surface welded coating, a high carbon cobalt alloy was
deposited on three different steels. The Co based alloy is
commercially known as Stellite 1, and in spite of its wide
use, there is no agreement regarding the microstructure
that coatings exhibit. Classified as a hypereutectic alloy,6
the processing technique and processing parameters for
a given technique determine its final microstructure.7
This discussion has been enriched by the work of Frenk
and Kurz,8 who developed a pseudobinary phase
diagram c-Co/M7C3, Fig. 1. This diagram suggests that
a eutectic reaction occurs at y2?6%C. The alloy used in
this study has 2?53%C, and as a consequence of its
dilution with the substrate material during surface
welding, it will be exposed to chemical composition
fluctuations. One should, therefore, expect that a change
in the chemical composition of the substrate material
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Experimental procedures
To study the influence of the chemical composition of
the substrate steel on the characteristics of coatings,
three
different
steels
were
selected.
Plates,
1506100612 mm, of AISI 1020 carbon steel, AISI
304 austenitic stainless steel, and AISI 410 martensitic
stainless steel, were PTA hardfaced with a high carbon
cobalt superalloy, recognised for superior wear performance. Chemical compositions of the as received
materials are shown in Table 1.
The work done by Hallen et al.11 has demonstrated
that dilution levels are a consequence of the processing
parameters used. Therefore, the interaction of the
different substrate steels with the coatings was evaluated
using two sets of processing parameters (Table 2)
targeting two extreme dilution levels. Set 1 used a low
Set 1
Set 2
5.0 l min1
5?0 l min1
9?0 l min1
1
5?0 l min
8?5 l min1
100110 A
105115 A
30 V
33 V
38 g min1
22 g min1
225 mm min1
170uC
170uC
260uC
Co alloy
AISI 1020
AISI 304
AISI 410
460
Co
Fe
Cr
Ni
Mo
Si
Mn
Bal.
3.0
Bal.
Bal.
Bal.
2.5
0.208
0.088
0.098
31.0
0.122
17.58
12.90
3.0
0.089
9.230
0.538
12.5
...
0.063
1.0
0.023
0.337
0.104
2.0
0.103
0.569
0.745
1.0
0.658
1.510
0.832
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Dilution (%)~
:V
Dx:H
where Q is wear rate (mm3 s21), Dm is mass loss (mg), Dx
is sliding distance (mm), H is surface hardness, and V is
tangential velocity (mm s21).
Q~
a, c, e low feed rate, preheating; b, d, f high feed rate, no preheating; a, b AISI 1020; c, d AISI 304; e, f AISI 410
3 General view of transverse cross-section of coatings deposited on different substrate steels
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Deposit soundness
A general view of the transverse cross-section of a
coated specimen is shown in Fig. 3. Deposits of 2 mm
and 5 mm thickness were processed for specimen set 1
(preheating and low feed rate) and specimen set 2 (no
preheating and high feed rate). No evidence of lack of
fusion was observed on specimens from both sets.
Transverse cracking was found in the majority of the
deposits and occurred during cooling. This crack
susceptibility has been related to the presence of primary
carbides and to the composition of the Co rich matrix as
Dilution
Dilution measurements in the form of area ratios are
presented in Fig. 4. Regarding the influence of processing parameters, the effect of the absence of preheating
and increasing powder feed rate on the reduction of
dilution levels, is obvious for the three substrate steels
evaluated. This observation confirmed literature results,
which state an approximately linear relationship
between dilution and preheating temperature over the
range 0300uC.15
For the thicker deposits (higher feed rate) it was
observed that dilution of the Co alloy with the substrate
tended to reduce in the order martensitic stainless steel,
to austenitic stainless steel, to carbon steel. A lower
dilution for carbon steel substrate was also observed for
the other set of deposits, however, martensitic and
austenitic stainless steels presented similar dilution
levels, with the coatings deposited on the latter substrate
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a, c, e external surface; b, d, f centre of coating; a, b AISI 1020; c, d AISI 304; e, f AISI 410
7 Microstructure of Co based alloy coatings deposited on different substrate materials using a low feed rate and preheating of the substrate steel
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a, c, e external surface; b, d, f centre of coating; a, b AISI 1020; c, d AISI 304; e, f AISI 410
8 Microstructure of Co based alloy deposited on different substrate materials using a high feed rate without preheating
of the substrate steel
Microstructure
Characterisation of the atomised Co based alloy powder
identified the original alloy structure. Further modifications as a consequence of processing procedures and
substrate chemical composition could then be established. Figure 6 reveals the microstructure of the Co
based alloy prior to deposition. As observed by scanning
electronic microscopy, the high carbon Co alloy used in
this work exhibited a hypereutectic structure with
primary hexagonal carbides. These primary carbides
consisted of a phase at the centre surrounded by a
second phase, described as being a tungsten rich phase
surrounded by a chromium rich phase.16,17 A white
dispersed tungsten rich phase was also observed.
Figure 7 shows transverse cross-section microstructures of deposits processed with a low feed rate and
substrate preheating, which resulted in the higher
dilution levels measured. For these high dilution coatings, microstructure can be described as primary
dendrites of cobalt a solid solution between which an
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11 Microhardness profiles measured on coatings processed with (a) low feed rate and preheating of substrate
steel (X AISI 1020, & AISI 304, m AISI 410); (b) high
feed rate without preheating of the substrate steel
(6 6 AISI 1020, * * AISI 304,
AISI 410)
N N
Hardness profiles determined on the transverse crosssection of the Co based alloy coatings (Fig. 11)
confirmed predictions made from microstructure and
dilution analyses. The relevance of a controlled dilution
is confirmed by the higher hardness values measured on
coatings processed with a high feed rate without
preheating of the substrate. This set of specimen
hardness values followed dilution levels, with the coatings deposited on carbon steel exhibiting higher hardness and those deposited on martensitic stainless steel
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Conclusions
For the conditions tested these results lead to some
important conclusions.
1. Plasma transferred arc hardfacing is a satisfactory
technique for use whenever controlled dilution coatings
are required.
2. As a general trend, results showed that lower
dilution deposits were associated with harder coatings
and less severe wear rates.
3. The effects of chemical composition of the
substrate steel overtook the effects of processing
parameters as dilution decreased. When that was the
case, results showed that changing the chemical composition of the substrate steel led to alterations in dilution
levels, microstructure development, coating hardness,
and sliding wear performance.
4. Within the selected substrate steels tested, AISI
1020 carbon steel resulted in lower dilution levels, richer
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Universidade
Federal do Parana (UFPR) and Agencia Nacional do
Petroleo (ANP) for funding the present work. Special
thanks are due to Mr Sergio Simoes from Delloro
Stellite for his collaboration during coatings processing,
to Mr Sergio Henke from LACTEC for MEV support,
and to Mr Ada ldo Leite Vieira Junior for conducting
wear tests.
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