An important problem for the petrochemical industry is the behaviour of materials in aggressive environments, when hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and sand, which contribute to corrosion erosion of the surface, are present. Generally, the use of hard materials such as thermal sprayed tungsten carbide and chromium carbide reduces this problem. Cemented carbides are quite suitable for this purpose: they are composite materials of pure carbides with binder metal alloys of low melting point and high ductility; the selection of the binder metals depends mostly on its ability to wet the surface of the carbide particles to ensure secure coating adhesion. Among the cemented carbides, namely tungsten carbide cobalt-chromium based (WC/CoCr) is considered as the standard for application to ball valve bodies and seats in the petrochemical field, while chromium carbide nickel-chromium based (Cr 3 C 2 /NiCr) is suitable for particular applications. Inconel 625 is also used in this field and usually applied by welding. This paper addresses the characterization of corrosion behavior of HVOF coated samples of WC/CoCr, Cr 3 C 2 /NiCr and Inconel 625 in aggressive environments, and in particular ferric chloride test according to standard ASTM G48-92 and H 2 S/CO 2 test based on NACE standards has been carried out. According to the test results, WC/CoCr based coatings show the best behavior both in terms of corrosion, thus confirming to be very versatile and useful for the application in petrochemical field.

Chromium carbide-nickel chromium coatings produced by HVOF spraying are widely used for high temperature wear and erosion resistant applications. Examination of the literature shows that whilst the mechanical properties of these coatings have been widely investigated, there has been little research into the physical processes occurring during HVOF spraying of this system, such as carbide dissolution, liquid-metallic phase oxidation, decarburisation and rapid solidification. The purpose of the present work has been to perform a systematic characterisation of the chromium carbide-nickel chromium system in both the initial powder and as-sprayed states with a variety of spraying conditions using optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, electron microprobe and X-ray diffraction. The presence of amorphous and nanocrystalline phases has been demonstrated. The nanocrystalline structures tend to be Ni rich, with the amorphous phases rich in Cr. Carbides of the form Cr 3 C 2 were found to be dissolved slightly during spraying, increasing the Cr and C contents of the liquid metallic phase. There was no evidence of chromium carbide oxidation.

The demand for energy reduction increases every year. In general, reducing the weight of mechanical components is a direct and efficient way to reduce the energy consumption. Therefore, the automotive industry has been growing its use of low-density alloys, as the cases of aluminum and magnesium. High production rate and dimensional precision are need, which narrows the manufacturing techniques suitable. Among the manufacturing processes, high pressure die casting (HPDC) has shown a viable solution. Nonetheless, every process has gaps for improvement. In the case of HPDC tooling is one of the major costs, being responsible for a significant ratio of the final product price. Whereas many articles are focused on the improvement by the development of new materials and thin coatings for HPDC, there is a lack of thermal spray coatings as solution for the wear problems over HPDC. This paper has the focus on showing the use of Cr 3 C 2 25 NiCr as a coating for the components used for HPDC, mainly the ones submitted to direct contact to the metal in fluid state. The idea is to compare the coating with the substrate regarding to thermal fatigue and verify whether it is a viable solution or not.

The wear of piston rings in large marine two-stroke diesel engines is a major maintenance cost. Applying coatings with good oxidation, corrosion resistance and high temperature strength, can lower the total maintenance cost. In the past nickel aluminide with chromium carbide have been applied to pistons by thermal spraying. Using laser cladding a suitable microstructure can be formed while at the same time avoiding cracks and bonding issues. In this report powders and coatings were manufactured in order to be able to investigate the dry-sliding wear behavior. Material with three levels of carbides was atomized. Wear test samples were manufactured by laser cladding. The dry sliding wear-mechanism maps are generated by using block on ring test setup where coated blocks slide against cast iron rings. All alloys exhibited regions of plasticity-dominated wear and oxidational wear with a transition region in-between. The carbide-containing alloys showed lower friction and wear in comparison to the carbide free nickel aluminide alloy.

Cr 3 C 2 -NiCr coatings are commonly used to provide abrasion and erosion wear resistance on the surface of components, in particular for corrosive and atmospheric high-temperature environments. For these classical and new applications the knowledge of the thermophysical properties is highly important. In the present work the dependence of the heat conductivity on temperature of two HVOF-sprayed Cr 3 C 2 -25NiCr-coatings prepared by a liquid-fuelled HVOF-process from two different feedstock powders from room temperature up to 700 °C was determined. Thermal diffusivities, density functions, specific heat capacities and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) were measured in order to compute the heat conductivity for the coatings. All measurements were performed twice (as-sprayed and after a first thermal cycle) in order to take into account the structural and compositional changes. XRD and FESEM studies were performed in order to characterize the phase compositions and microstructures in the as-sprayed and heat-treated states. Heat conductivities (average of the two coatings) ranging from about 11 W/(mK) at 50°C up to about 20 W/(mK) at 700°C were determined. Differences between the two coatings were clearly detectable. The heat conductivity of the Cr 3 C 2 -NiCr coatings is significantly lower than determined previously for a WC-17%Co coating.

The present work has the purpose of comparing different thermal spraying techniques, namely axial plasma spray, standard air plasma spray and high velocity oxygen flame (HVOF), for depositing metal matrix composites, in this case chromium carbide nickel-chromium based. The quality of the coatings deposited by these three techniques has been assessed in terms of structural characteristics (porosity, oxide concentration, unmelted particles presence, etc.) and of mechanical characteristics (hardness, adhesion, etc.) as well as surface morphology. A specific efficiency test has been carried out to compare the three examined technologies. The results of the present study indicate that, against a slightly decrease in the quality of the film in terms of structural and mechanical properties, axial plasma sprayed coatings can be sprayed with a higher efficiency in comparison to the traditional technologies.

WELD OVERLAYS, more specifically chromium carbide weld overlays, have been widely used as thick coatings to protect critical plant components from abrasion wear. These thick coatings have been also considered in applications involving severe erosion, their thickness being synonymous with long life protection. Recently, boride-based arc-sprayed coatings have been developed especially for erosion control. They have demonstrated their superiority in erosion resistance over various coatings including chromium carbide submerged arc overlays. This work was undertaken to produce dense boride-based coatings comparable in thickness with carbide-based overlays. A GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) welding procedure was developed for depositing boride-based overlays from cored wires. A comparative evaluation of the hardness, erosive and abrasive wear resistance of these boride-based overlays with regards to chromium and tungsten carbide overlays was carried out. Abrasion and erosion wear testing demonstrated that boride-based overlays showed higher abrasion and erosion resistance than chromium and tungsten carbide-based overlays. Overlays with higher wear resistance can be obtained if appropriate welding procedure is used to decrease weld bead dilution and therefore increase coating hardness. Results also showed that boride-based coatings deposited by arc spraying posses higher erosion resistance than those produced by the welding process.

Thermally sprayed hard coatings, including tungsten carbide and chromium carbide cermets and other hard metallic materials, were studied in two types of wear tests. Surfaces of the coatings were worn by coarse and hard quartz sand in a rubber-wheel dry abrasion wear test, and by fine and soft kaolin abrasive in a wet slurry abrasion wear test. The aim of the work was to study how the surfaces retain their high polished finish and gloss, and the type of wearing of different coatings and materials. The results showed that coatings with hard tungsten carbides were worn preferentially by removal of the the binder material. Cermet coatings with softer chromium carbides, and with another types of uniform microstructures showed more uniform wear and better retained their glossy finish.

Chromium carbide-based thermally sprayed coatings are widely used for high temperature wear applications. In these extreme environments at those temperatures, several phenomena will degrade, oxidize and change the microstructure of the coatings, thereby affecting their wear behaviour. Although it can be easily conceived that the Cr 3 C 2 -NiCr coating microstructure evolution after high temperature exposure will depend on the as-sprayed microstructure and spraying parameters, very little has been done in this regard. This study intends to develop a better understanding of the effect of spraying parameters on the resulting chromium carbide coating microstructure after high temperature operation and high temperature sliding wear properties. The microstructures of different coatings produced from two morphologies of Cr 3 C 2 -NiCr powders and under a window of in-flight particle temperature and velocity values were characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Sliding wear at 800°C was performed and the wear behaviour correlated to the spraying parameters and coating microstructure. Vickers microhardness (300 gf) of the coatings before and after sliding wear was also measured.

In this study, 1-1.5 μm chromium carbide particles are used to prepare CrC-NiCr and CrC-Ni-Cr powders by spray drying and vacuum sintering with the aim of optimizing the properties while minimizing the cost of HVOF-sprayed NiCr-CrC coatings. The powders are characterized by means of SEM and XRD analysis and the coatings are evaluated based on microstructure, microhardness, bonding strength, and erosion resistance.

One of the most important uses of HVOF thermal sprayed CrC-NiCr coatings is for wear resistance. In this work Cr 3 C 2 75-NiCr25 coatings were obtained by high-velocity oxy-fuel system from three agglomerated feedstock powders with various powder size distributions (- 30, -10 and –5 µm). The powders were agglomerated, sintered, plasmafused and crushed, in order to increase their density. The coating microstructures were characterised by SEM microscopy. Differences in coating roughness have been determined by profilometry. The ultra-microindentation technique was applied to measure the hardness and the elasto-plastic properties of the coatings. Experiments using a tribometer (pin on disc configuration) under lubricated and dry conditions have been performed in order to evaluate the friction and wear properties of the different coatings. It was found that the coatings obtained with the lowest feedstock powder size presented the best sliding wear resistance under all the conditions. This fact could be explained in terms of differences of cohesion between the carbide particles and the binder phase. The lower feedstock powder presents a lower carbide particle size that involves a better distribution and cohesion of the chromium carbide with the NiCr binder phase. This fact leads a minor production of “third body” hard particles in the wear tests that influenced quite considerably in the final wear rate of the studied coatings.

This paper investigates the microstructure, bond adhesion, and high temperature and thermal fatigue performance of plasma-sprayed chromium carbide, nickel-chromium coatings after continuous exposure at high temperature inside a combustion chamber that simulates the extreme conditions existing in different industrial applications. Experiments on high temperature behavior under oxidative and neutral atmospheres and thermal fatigue tests are carried out in a test combustion chamber. Finally, the adhesion between the substrate and the coating layer is assessed using tensile tests. The paper discusses the results with special consideration of the microstructure development through the heat treatment. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

Highly corrosion and wear resistant thermally sprayed chromium carbide (Cr 3 C 2 ) based cermets coatings are nowadays a potential highly durable solution to allow traditional fluidised bed combustors (FBC) to be operated with ecological waste and biomass fuels. However, the heat input of thermal spraying processes causes carbide dissolution in the metal binder. This alters the coating structure and forms carbon saturated amorphous and nanocrystalline metastable areas, which can affect the behaviour of the materials under the corrosive chlorides containing environment of the flue gases. This study analyses the effect of carbide dissolution in the metal matrix of MMC coatings and its effect on the onset of chlorine induced high temperature corrosion. Four Cr 3 C 2 -NiCrMoNb coatings were thermally sprayed with high-velocity air-fuel (HVAF) and high-velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) spray processes in order to obtain microstructures with increasing amount of carbide dissolution in the metal matrix. The specimens were heat treated in an inert argon atmosphere at 700°C for 5 hours to induce secondary carbide precipitation. As-sprayed and heat-treated self-standing coatings were covered with KCl and their corrosion resistance was investigated with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at 550°C for 4 hours. High carbon dissolution in the metal matrix appeared to be a detrimental factor in the initial stage of corrosion. The microstructural changes induced by the heat treatment hindered the corrosion onset in the coatings. Moreover, an optimal amount of oxides and melting degree seemed beneficial.

This paper investigates the oxidation that occurs during the flight movement of a powder particle and during the spatter solidification in the thermal spray process. The effects of oxidation on droplet flattening, on the mechanical and thermal interactions between spatter and substrate, on spatter morphology, on porosity, and on adhesion are studied. The influence of wetting and oxygen dissolution is analyzed. The experimental results show that during High Velocity Oxy-Fuel spraying of the chromium carbide-nickel-chromium powder, the relative mass of chromium oxide in the coating is about 4.95%. The theoretical results agree well with the experimental observations. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

Thermal sprayed chromium carbide (Cr3C2)-25% NiCr (Ni-20%Cr) coatings are extensively used in wear resistant applications especially under conditions wherein operating temperatures are likely to be higher than 500°C . The performance of the Cr3C2-NiCr coatings under such conditions depend on a variety of coating properties like the porosity, microstructure, extent of decarburization of Cr3C2 phase and hardness. One of the parameters which affects the above mentioned coating properties is the characteristics of the powder utilized for thermal spraying. In the present study, Cr3C2-25% NiCr powders obtained from four different sources has been utilized to form Cr3C2-NiCr coatings on steel substrates utilizing the detonation spray coating (DSC) system. The Cr3C2-NiCr powders utilized vary from each other in terms of manufacturing route employed (sintered and crushed, pre-alloyed, blended, etc.), particle size distribution, particle shape and even phases present. The influence of each of these powder characteristics on the coating microstructure, porosity, hardness, extent of carbide dissolution and ultimately on coating performance (i.e. sliding and abrasive wear resistance) has been evaluated.

Thermal sprayed ceramic coatings play an important role in those industrial applications where exceptional erosion and wear resistance are required. In particular, nickel-chromium based coatings containing chromium carbide particles dispersion are widely used when environment temperature rises up to 800°C. Thick Cr 3 C 2 -NiCr coatings were produced with two thermal spray processes: Air Plasma Spray (APS) and High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF). Two different powders have been selected as starting materials. Their dimensional and morphological properties were assessed to verify their sprayability, both in terms of flowability and deposition efficiency. For both APS and HVOF processes, most deposition parameters were selected, after preliminary spraying tests, on the basis of statistical analysis of results, in terms of coating density, hardness and substrate-coating interface quality. The tribological properties of the coatings were evaluated in order to investigate the influence of the deposition process on the behavior of coatings under wear conditions

This paper presents a process for manufacturing parts using HVOF spraying techniques. The parts are made from a mixture of chromium carbide and nickel chromium alloy powders and are characterized based on microstructure, hardness, and corrosion and wear performance. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

In this paper, the residual stresses in high velocity oxy-fuel-sprayed chromium carbide/nickel-chromium coatings are measured using a bending technique "Almen" type measured. The influence of the most important spray parameters (including total gas flow rate, fuel-oxygen ratio, spray distance, thermal effects of the process, and particle speed) on the generation of internal stresses is examined. The influences of the process factors and material properties are studied, for example the "hammering" of the coating by impacting particles and the lack of conformity of the coefficient of thermal expansion of the coating/substrate. The results show that all residual stresses were caused by pressure and were very sensitive to the thermal effects of the process. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

This paper analyses the influence of specific coating parameters such as robot velocity, spray distance and part cooling on the risk of crack formation within Chromium- Carbide / Nickel-Chromium coatings. To understand the effect in more detail, metallographic investigations were conducted. These also provide sufficient data to examine other important coating characteristics such as porosity, mechanical stresses and homogeneity. As an additional analytical method Element Mapping is utilised to show the level of oxidation and its impact on the coating microstructure. The methods X-ray diffraction (XRD) and In-situ coating property (ICP)-Sensor are used to investigate the development of stresses in different coatings. With the information from all these examinations a concept was derived to achieve thick, crack-free wear protective coatings.

High temperature corrosion is a serious problem on tlie heat exchanger tubes of recuperators because they encounter an corrosive environment at maximum temperature around 900°C. These tubes were found to be corroded via oxidation, sulfidation and molten salt corrosion. Particularly molten salt corrosion could be the most severe corrosion mechanism. As a protective coating for recuperators, nickel and cobalt based self-fluxing alloys, iron based amorphous alloy and chromium carbide cermet coatings were considered. These coatings were prepared by an arc spray and or/not fusing or a HVOF spray. Their molten salt corrosion resistance was tested, and the high temperature corrosion resistance in a SO2 containing atmosphere was examined. Also microstructures of the coatings were studied after corrosion tests.