Sliding wear properties for Ni–Al based intermetallic compound layer coated on ductile cast iron by combustion synthesis

Intermetallic compound materials have great potentials as new functional material. Despite their great potentials, these materials are rarely applied in the industrial field. One of the main reasons may be because of the brittleness of the material. Indeed, it is recently known that the intermetallic compounds can be coated on the metal surface by combustion synthesis. In this study, Ni–Al based intermetallic compounds are coated on a ductile cast iron by the combustion synthesis at several reaction temperatures. Sliding wear tests are conducted to verify the sliding wear properties and investigate the effects of the reaction temperature. As a result, it is found that microstructure of the coating layer varies significantly with the reaction temperature. However, their wear properties are influenced just in the range of low sliding speed by the reaction temperature. It is clear that the wear resistance of Ni–Al based intermetallic compound coating layers are effective in the range of high sliding speed, regardless of the reaction temperature. Pitting damages are observed from the worn surfaces of coating layer.