Abrasive wear behaviour of WC–CoCr and Cr3C2–20(NiCr) deposited by HVOF and detonation spray processes

Thermally sprayed tungsten carbide-based and chromium carbide-based coatings are being widely used for a variety of wear resistance applications. These coatings deposited by high velocity processes like high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) and detonation gun spray (DS) techniques are known to provide improved wear performance. In the present study, WC–10Co–4Cr and Cr3C2–20(NiCr) coatings are deposited by HVOF and pulsed DS processes, and low stress abrasion wear resistance of these coatings are compared. The abrasion tests were done using a three-body solid particle rubber wheel test rig using silica grits as the abrasive medium. The results show that the DS coating performs slightly better than the HVOF coating possibly due to the higher residual compressive stresses induced by the former process and WC-based coating has higher wear resistance in comparison to Cr3C2-based coating. Also, the thermally sprayed carbide-based coatings have excellent wear resistance with respect to the hard chrome coatings.