Tungsten carbide-cobalt coatings are extensively used to protect surfaces from wear in many types of applications, such as compressor piston rods, pump plungers, shaft sleeves on centrifugal pumps and fans, and midspans of compressor blades in gas turbines. The wear behavior in any application is strongly influenced by the basic physical and mechanical properties of such coatings. Fracture toughness as a mechanical property indicates the resistance to fracture in the presence of a sharp crack, and thus provides a measure of the intrinsic strength of the cemented carbides coatings. In this study, Vickers indentation tests have been used to quantify the in-plane fracture behavior of various WC-based coatings deposited by the High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) spray process. The indentation cracks are analyzed in terms of standardized relations that utilize radial-median crack geometries. It is shown that the fracture properties of HVOF WC-Co coatings are anisotropic, and depend strongly on the microstructure and composition of the coatings. The crack propagation is determined by the porosity, binder mean free path, and the shape, size, and distribution of the reinforcing carbide particles. The erosion resistances of the coatings have also been discussed as a function of the fracture properties and mechanisms. It is shown, in this study, that the Vickers indentation method is a useful and convenient technique for determining the in-plane fracture toughness of HVOF sprayed WC-based coatings.

Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystalline coatings, due to their high hardness and low friction coefficients, are potential candidates for improving the wear resistance of ductile materials. However, technological applications may be limited on account of their brittle nature. This study examines the effects of starting powder composition and thermal spray process parameters on the phase assemblage, microstructure, and tribological response of Al-Cu-Fe thermally sprayed coatings. It was found that the coatings fail by a delamination mechanism in unlubricated unidirectional sliding wear. Furthermore, the coatings produced by the high velocity oxy-fuel technique showed a very low coefficient of friction and wear rate.

Gas atomized Al 63 Cu 25 Fe 12 powders of varying size fractions were plasma sprayed to study the relationships between coating microstructure and tribological behavior. After spraying, annealing was performed on one of the coatings. Abrasion and sliding wear tests were performed on the coatings. The results indicate a correlation between the abrasion resistance and hardness of the coatings. Furthermore, sliding wear tests reveal lower coefficients of friction for the as-sprayed coatings compared to the annealed coatings.