In every industry wear plates and parts are demanded in heavy duty standards at cost effectiveness and environmental friendliness. For that reasons a new kind of coating technology was developed, and first applied on parts for agricultural machinery for getting results from the field. Simultaneously lab tests were done to compare the wear behaviour and performance of these sintered iron-based coatings with mainly chromium-carbides and borides in it, with other well known wear-resistant coatings like hard chrome, thermal sprayed coatings (Ni-matrix/WC), PTA welded coatings (Ni-matrix/WC, high speed steel) and processed steel like Hardox. Wear tests were performed under 3-body-abrasion as well as combined impact/abrasion conditions, respectively. Dry-sand rubber-wheel procedure according ASTM G65 was used to investigate low stress abrasion, whereas for high stress abrasion investigations a steel wheel was used. A special designed impeller-tumbler apparatus was used for combined impact and abrasion wear tests. Analysis after testing was done quantitatively by gravimetric mass loss, and qualitatively using SEM microscopy (edge stability, wear mechanisms). The ambition of this investigation is to secure the wear performance of the sintered iron-based coating at low production costs compared to well known anti-wear solutions applied in wear intensive industries.

Cutting tools in agricultural machines have to withstand high wear demands. Longer maintenance cycle intervals of these tools can be achieved using coatings reinforced with hard particles, applied onto tool substrates. This work was done to establish the qualified test procedure to characterize carbide containing spray & fuse coatings for agricultural demands under abrasion and impact. Simulating these field conditions in lab-scale, tests were performed with a standard ASTM G65 dry-sand rubber-wheel tester (3-body abrasion) and a special impeller-tumbler apparatus (combined impact and abrasion wear). The interaction of hardphase content and matrix composition was investigated to assess their response varying impact energy effects. The test procedure described is suited to optimize coatings by combining quantitative mass loss measurement with results of surface profilometry. It is shown, that crucial material criteria of carbide coatings, such as edge stability and wear progress, can be characterized in a way which is able to tailor coatings for targeted wear regimes in agriculture.