Non-transferred arc plasma cladding of Stellite Ni60 alloy on steel

This paper reports on an experiment, in which a clad coating of Stellite Ni60 alloy was prepared on AISI 1020 steel using home-made non-transferred arc plasma cladding equipment. A pre-placed layer of Stellite Ni60 alloy powder on the substrate steel was melted at the high temperature of the plasma jet, and a uniform, adherent and non-diluted clad coating was obtained after optimizing the cladding parameters. The coating composition, microstructure and microhardness were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy (OPM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and microhardness testing. The experimental results show that the non-transferred arc plasma cladding is an economical and environmentally friendly process for cladding processes.