Abstract
In this work, the aim is to develop a cost-effective coating to protect cast iron and carbon steel from corrosion and wear. An alloy with a composition of FeCr25Mn10BC was designed that could be readily converted to powder form by gas atomization. Different sized powders were produced, characterized, and subsequently sprayed using a three-cathode air plasma generator. It was found that fine powders with fractions of -25 +10 μm and -10 μm had a much higher affinity to oxidation than coarser ones. Nevertheless, using suitable parameters, dense coatings with low oxide content could be realized even with the finest powder. The results show that full utilization of the powder is achievable due to the wide parameter window of three-cathode plasma spraying and that the average deposition efficiency is more than 70%. In addition to savings in material and processing costs, the new alloy system provides greater wear resistance than stainless steel coatings and exhibits significantly higher corrosion resistance than unprotected cast iron and carbon steel.
