Fe-Based Powder Alloys Deposited by HVOF and HVAF for Sliding Wear Applications

This study compares the wear performance of thermally sprayed iron coatings with that of electrolytic hard chrome (EHC) plating. Three Fe-based alloy powders (FeSP529, FeSP586, 6AB) were deposited on S355 structural steel plates by HVOF and HVAF spraying and the resulting coatings and plating samples were subjected to dry sliding wear tests using a block-on-ring setup. Wear maps for all three Fe-based powder alloys are similar, showing regions of plasticity dominated wear, wear transition, and oxidational wear as a function of sliding velocity. More importantly, the wear rates of the sprayed coatings were ten times lower than those of the EHC plating samples.